SoFi Technologies Inc. will expand in Cottonwood Heights, adding 410 high-paying jobs over the next decade.
The San Francisco-based digital financial services company’s $3 million project will expand its existing presence in Salt Lake County.
Founded in 2011, SoFi allows members to borrow, save, spend, invest and protect their money, all in one app. Its technology platform, Galileo, powers financial solutions for fintechs, financial institutions and brands.
The expansion announcement came after the company was approved for a tax credit incentive of up to $3.6 million over 10 years by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity board at its October meeting. The company had been awarded a similar incentive in 2016 by what was then known as the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board.
“We’re thrilled to expand SoFi’s presence in Utah,” said Eric Schuppenhauer, interim president of SoFi Bank and executive vice president and group business unit leader for Borrow. “We’re proud to have opened our first office here in 2016 and brought Galileo, one of the many great fintech companies born in the Beehive State, into the SoFi family. We look forward to growing alongside the communities we serve here and helping our members get their money right.”
Founded in 2011, SoFi operates as a direct bank and provides its technology platform to other financial institutions. Its financial products and services include lending, including student loan refinancing, personal loans and mortgages; financial services, including SoFi Money (checking and savings accounts), SoFi Invest (investing platform), SoFi Credit Card and SoFi Relay (personal finance management); and the technology platform Galileo.
The company has 11.7 million members.
The 2016 state incentive was for Social Finance Inc., which was better known by the SoFi name, for up to $1.15 million tied to the creation of 400 high-paying finance sector jobs over five years in an $8 million Salt Lake County project. At the time, SoFi had 650 total employees.
“Keeping the footprint here strong in Salt Lake is of high importance to me, and I think that the incentives were a huge motivating factor for the executive team to invest in the state, and I’m looking forward to the next chapter as we continue to grow and expand as a company, here in the state as well as globally,” Chase Bradshaw, SoFi’s senior director of tax and transformation, told the GOEO board.
Ryan Ellinghausen, state and local tax manager for SoFi, said the company has 3,800 employees in 14 locations in the U.S. plus an international presence. The company has two Utah locations: Cottonwood Heights, with 600 employees, and Sandy, with more than 600.
The company wants to have 1,600 Utah employees by the end of the 10-year period. The 410 incentivized jobs need to pay at least 110 percent of the county average pay for the company to get the incentive.
“We plan to continue to grow in Salt Lake. By the help of the state, city and county, we feel we could double our headcount in the next 10 years,” he said. “While a lot of the jobs may not be making that 110 percent average county wage threshold, we feel that this is a huge contribution to the Salt Lake County economy.”
Ellinghausen said the company came to Salt Lake County for the availability of workforce talent, and nearby mountains give employees a good work/life balance.
The earlier incentive “really allowed us to make Salt Lake County a cornerstone location for our company and a flagship location for our company as well,” he said.
The upcoming project is expected to generate nearly $340 million in total wages over 10 years, plus new state tax revenue of nearly $14.5 million during that time. The new jobs are expected to pay an average of $132,868.
“Utah’s fintech industry is a cornerstone of our economy, powering innovation and growth across every sector,” Jefferson Moss, GOEO’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “SoFi’s expansion in Utah adds momentum to our thriving fintech ecosystem, bringing new opportunities, technology and innovative tools to help our state achieve greater financial independence.”
“We are incredibly proud to welcome the expansion of SoFi Technologies,” said Jim Spung, community and economic development director for Cottonwood Heights. “SoFi’s commitment to our city is a clear indicator that Cottonwood Heights is a place where innovation and growth can thrive. We look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with SoFi and the new opportunities this brings for our residents and the larger Salt Lake metropolitan area.”
The GOEO board meeting took place in Cedar City in conjunction with the One Utah Summit.
GOEO does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that an incentivized company meets the obligations in its contract with GOEO, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes the company paid to the state.