February 9, 2016
Innovation Square, home to Gainesville’s growing number of tech companies, is only getting bigger with the arrival of Tera Insights, a company specializing in data processing and security. The company, which was previously located in the Sun Center in downtown Gainesville, is recollecting to the square with the goal of attracting new clients, creating more jobs, expanding its office square footage and being close to the University of Florida. Tera Insights is the brain child of UF professor Alin Dobra, whose company began as a research project.
Innovation Square is considered a HUBZone, which is a Small Business Administration (SBA) program for small companies that operate and employ people in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones). This zoning will give Dobra the ability to garner new clients that were previously unavailable to the company. It’s a huge advantage being in Innovation Square for any company wanting to do work with government or government contractors, which is the case for Tera Insights. Furthermore, the HUB zoning helps promote businesses located in the area by giving them a competitive advantage on some contacts.
Tera Insights, in collaborating with UF and UF companies at the Innovation Hub, benefits from the synergy of all the companies there, and is eagerly looking to hire more employees, which means more job opportunities for Gainesville residents. Dobra begins the hunt for employees on the UF campus, often in his own classroom. The majority of the staff at Tera Insights is UF Alumni and students. With the company’s new close proximity to campus, employees can essentially work more for the company as it will be easier to move back and forth between the office and the classroom.
Tera Insights is the first company to move to Innovation Square because of HUB zoning invectives, but there are sure to be many more companies that follow the trend.
For more info on Tera insights, visit terainsights.com.
