EnginSoft Expands its U.S. Headquarters in McKinney With a Grant From MEDC's Innovation Fund

McKinney continues to be a hub for growing tech startups as SaaS company EnginSoft announced today it was expanding its U.S. headquarters.

The news comes on the heels of product-as-a-service company Invene deciding to relocate its headquarters to McKinney from the University of Texas at Dallas. That move was fueled by a grant from McKinney Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Innovation Fund, which launched in January.

EnginSoft, an engineering company in the field of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), also recently received a grant from the Innovation Fund. It was used for a similar purpose as Invene: expansion.

“The focus of the fund has a lot of practical uses for startup scalability as well as for more established companies like ours,” Chris Wilkes, CEO of EnginSoft USA, said in a statement. “I can see a variety of applications for established revenue model companies and ones that are fundraising.”

Founded in 1984, Italian-based EnginSoft aims to be a “catalyst for change” in the way CAE tech can reliably solve the most complex industrial problems. Driving the company’s growth is the increasingly complex mechanical engineering work it does for companies such as NASA, Xerox, US Army, Toyota, and Exxon, and more.

Expanding EnginSoft’s U.S. headquarters in McKinney is expected to create up to 20 highly specialized software engineering jobs over the next three years. That brings the total number of EnginSoft employees to 23, each with an average salary of $90,000, according to the company.

The headquarters is located in Adriatica, a 45-acre mixed-use development that brings a quaint European feel to McKinney.

[Photo: Jed Rollins]

It’s modeled after Supetar, a Croatian village that inspired Jeff Blackard, CEO of McKinney-based Blackard Global, to rethink his entire approach to development down to the cobblestone streets, stunning chapel, and landmark bell tower.

“McKinney has been a great place for us to grow our business,” Wilkes, who is also the Chairman of the North Texas Angel Network, said. “The expansion of our US headquarters has a lot to do with the local market, and the Innovation Fund grant was confirmation for us to continue scaling our business in McKinney.”

Through programs, funding, and support systems, the MEDC’S Innovation Fund is designed to create opportunities for businesses that wouldn’t traditionally qualify for economic incentives. It invests in companies with high growth potential—to the MEDC, innovators in the tech and startup sector are leading the way for “Economic Development 2.0 organizations.”

This methodology is intended to spur and accelerate the growth of innovation-focused companies at various levels of revenue and funding stages. In doing so, MEDC said the Fund is able to grow with the company as it scales, “supplementing growth during the timeliest need in the startup lifecycle, seed or few customers, to Series A and or a more extensive customer base.”

Back in February, healthcare SaaS company Blockit used its grant for a major headquarters expansion at the Cotton Mill near downtown McKinney.

“It’s incredible to see the positive response to our fund during this pandemic and to also demonstrate growth,” Danny Chavez, the senior vice president at MEDC, said in a statement. “Working with Chris and receiving his positive feedback as an experienced investor, CEO, and entrepreneur has been great and is a testament to the fund’s viability. Working with EnginSoft has been mutually beneficial and we look forward to them expanding in McKinney.”