Irvine-based smart technology company Greenwave Systems Inc., Orange County’s biggest recipient of venture capital funding this year to date, has signed a deal to move its headquarters to 200 Spectrum Center, the area’s newest office tower.
The 8-year-old company—whose products allow businesses to deploy their own systems to manage services for the Internet of Things—recently completed a deal to lease a full floor at 200 Spectrum Center, the new 21-story office next to the Spectrum shopping center in Irvine.
The 22,150-square-foot lease is for the 15th floor of the glass-sheathed tower—OC’s tallest office—which opened its doors in March.
The lease brings the building’s occupancy to about 60%, according to Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, developer and owner of the speculative project.
Irvine Co. chairman and owner Donald Bren, and Dan Young, president of the company’s community development division, each are among the Business Journal’s OC50 listing of the area’s most influential businesspeople (see special insert for profiles, related stories on pages 1, 3).
Doubling in Size
The high-profile lease more than doubles the local office presence for Greenwave, which is currently at the nearby Corporate Business Center, another Irvine Co. property.
It employed about 70 in Irvine at the start of the year but has announced plans for a hiring push here and in other locations after raising nearly $60 million in funding at the start of the year in two separate deals.
The company announced in January that it had raised $45 million in the largest venture capital funding deal announced in OC so far this year. That round of funding, led by the investment arms of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Singapore Technologies Telemedia, brought Greenwave’s total funding to $76 million.
Greenwave also has operations in Singapore, Korea, San Jose and Denmark, the home country of chief executive and founder Martin Manniche.
Manniche previously served as chief technology officer for the consumer business division of Cisco Systems Inc.
Menlo Park-based Westly Group, one of the largest clean-technology venture firms in the U.S., invested in Greenwave in prior funding rounds. Germany-based energy provider E.ON SE invested in the latest funding round.
Greenwave also secured a $15 million mezzanine loan from Business Development Corp. of America this year.
The company said it plans to use the proceeds from its latest funding deals to accelerate global expansion and to provide growth capital for strategic investment.
Greenwave employed about 250 worldwide as of last month. Executives said recently they intended to have nearly 300 employees by the end of the year.
Recent job postings for the company’s Irvine offices suggest it’s contemplating a public listing in the not-too-distant future.
A job opening for a controller position lists experience with Sarbanes Oxley requirements among desired skills.
The company has not disclosed its revenues. Executives have said that it’s “very profitable,” and that it has doubled revenues year-over-year for each of the past three years.
VC Movers
Other large tenants announced for 200 Spectrum Center include Mazda North America Operations. The automaker is leasing 102,000 square feet on five floors of the building for its North American headquarters and will be relocating from a nearby office.
WeWork, a New York-based provider of office space to entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses, is taking another 44,000 square feet at the tower for its first Orange County location.
Huntsville, Ala.-based gaming company Curse Inc. is leasing an additional 22,000 square feet for its new West Coast base.
The leasing activity at 200 Spectrum prompted Irvine Co. to begin work on a sister high-rise at 400 Spectrum Center this year.
The Greenwave deal is the latest in a string of recent Orange County office leases involving VC-backed companies. Among them:
• Analytics software maker Alteryx Inc., which raised $85 million in funding last October, signed a deal this year to move its headquarters to a 45,000-square-foot space at the Park Place campus in Irvine, doubling its local presence.
• Security software maker Cylance Inc., which raised $42 million last summer, took 21,000 square feet at the 18201 Von Karman Ave. office tower in Irvine and now has its name atop the airport-area building.
• Acorns Grow Inc., a mobile investment software company that’s raised more than $60 million in venture capital the past few years, last year announced a deal to take 30,000 square feet at the Newport Gateway office complex in Irvine.
