Last week, our friends at Invest Buffalo Niagara came to our headquarters in the Butler Mansion to see how we’ve progressed as a company.
When Sentient Science was looking to establish a commercial headquarter location, Invest Buffalo Niagara played a key role in luring us to the digital rustbelt of Buffalo, NY.
Prior to 2013, CEO Ward Thomas was living and raising his family in California, which may have been a more logical location to commercialize a software startup company. However, with the help of Governor Cuomo’s Consolidated Funding Application process, tax incentives and a low cost of operating and living, Sentient Science opened its commercial doors in Buffalo, NY instead of a garage in Sillicon Valley.
The Stark Enterprise-esque “Iron Man” atmosphere of the Butler Mansion and strategic partnership with the University at Buffalo to lease the facility and use the supercomputer at the Center for Computational Research has facilitated rapidly growth of the business from R&D phase to commercialization.
Since the move in 2013, Sentient Science has raised nearly $30 million of investment from Venture Capital firm, Toba Capital, and Growth Equity Firm, Georgian Partners. Funding has been and will continue to be used to scale technology capabilities, release new product developments and to increase the employee-base from 60 to 130 employees.