Fintech company expanding in Charlotte, investing $13 million and creating 600 jobs

The fintech company Credit Karma is expanding in Charlotte with its new East Coast headquarters, spending $13 million and adding 600 jobs in the next five years, local and state officials announced Tuesday.

Credit Karma opened an East Coast office five years ago in Charlotte. Another fintech firm, stock trading app Robinhood said in March it plans to invest $11.7 million to open an office in Charlotte.

Credit Karma will receive more than $22 million in incentives from the city and state. The state Economic Investment Committee awarded Credit Karma up to $21 million in state incentives over a 12-year period. The city offered $186,000 in incentives to the personal finance company.

This new project will lift the economy by $2.6 billion a year, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday during a city of Charlotte Economic Development press conference. “We are here to celebrate another big economic win for the Charlotte area and the entire state of North Carolina,” Cooper said.

Jobs with Credit Karma include software engineering, project management, data and other technical roles. Minimum pay for the jobs is $156,000, Cooper said. Mecklenburg County’s overall average annual wage is $71,689.

Credit Karma founder and CEO Kenneth Lin said the company looked at a dozen areas for its next headquarters before choosing Charlotte. He said a skilled workforce mattered in the search, adding that having so many financial companies concentrated in one market makes Charlotte’s talent pool “unrivaled.”

City Councilman Tariq Bokhari, executive director of the Carolina Fintech Hub, said in a statement to the Observer that Charlotte now has more than 60 fintech companies, with expansions that also include LendingTree, AvidXchange and Better.com.

“It’s getting hard not to make the argument that Charlotte is the dominant future force of fintech nationwide,” Bokhari said.

Credit Karma’s Charlotte office in Ballantyne focuses on Credit Karma Tax, the company’s online tax preparation service. Four years ago, the company said it planned to double its 25-person staff in Charlotte, which has swelled to nearly 200 employees.

Company officials said they are looking to stay in Ballantyne for its expansion. “Longer term our goal is to continue to grow, and it’s a major investment for the company,” Lin said.

The San Francisco- based company opened in 2007 and has more than 500 employees across the country.

Other companies coming to Charlotte

Several other companies have recently laid plans to expand into Charlotte, including health insurance giant Centene, bringing thousands of jobs to the city.

Here are some of the other recent expansion announcements:

▪ California-based Robinhood in March said its office plans for Charlotte included creating nearly 400 jobs. The company will receive up to $3.7 million in incentives from the city and state, the Observer previously reported. Details about where or when the office will open have not been announced.

▪ Also in in March, British electric vehicle company Arrival said it will spend over $41 million to set up its second U.S. microfactory at Meadow Commerce Center, near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, creating 250 jobs. The company will have over 900 jobs in the Charlotte region between its first U.S. microfactory in Rock Hill and its North American headquarters in Charlotte’s South End.

▪ Last summer, Centene Corp. of St. Louis said it will spend $1 billion and add several thousand jobs to Charlotte to create an East Coast headquarters and technology hub. In turn, the company could receive up to $450 million in incentives over 39 years.

It was the largest job announcement in the history of North Carolina’s current incentives program until last month when Apple announced a new campus in Wake County. The Jobs Development Investment Grant awarded Apple $845.8 million over 39 years.

This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Fintech company expanding in Charlotte, investing $13 million and creating 600 jobs."