California-based software company signs deal to open office in downtown Ann Arbor
Cataphora, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based organizational behavior software firm, plans to open an office in Ann Arbor next month after signing a lease for space at The Offices at Liberty Square.
The company will occupy 1,000 square feet in Ann Arbor-based McKinley Inc.’s The Offices at Liberty Square at 510 E. Washington St., said Tom Gritter, vice president and managing director of commercial real estate for McKinley.
With TechArb construction now complete, there is about 18,000 square feet of remaining office space available in The Offices at Liberty Square.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
Cataphora wants to recruit University of Michigan students to work in the new office, according to the company’s website.
Tim Smith, Cataphora’s spokesman, said the company took an interest in Ann Arbor because many of its employees, including the chief executive officer, are U-M alumni.
“We have recruited extensively from U-M,” he said.
Gritter said the company should be settled into the space “pretty much immediately,” with the move completed by early September.
Cataphora joins a growing list of new tenants for The Offices at Liberty Square, which is located in the basement of the building generally remembered as Tally Hall and the one-time headquarters for Borders.
Other tenants include TechArb, which is a group of University of Michigan student startups, The Onion, Reznick Solutions and Barre Bee Fit.
Construction was recently completed on the 3,200-square-foot TechArb space, and Gritter said the group will move from its current location on the fourth floor of the McKinley Towne Centre to the new space in September.
Gritter, who describes The Offices at Liberty Square as an entrepreneurial hub of activity, said there is interest from several other technology companies looking at the remaining 18,000 square feet of available office space.
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
ArgoC
Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 12:06 a.m.
The Onion has an office here? Cool!
BhavanaJagat
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 3:59 p.m.
Welcome to Ann Arbor : Make Hay while Sun Shines. How does this statement reflect human behavior?
say it plain
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 2:19 p.m.
ew, check out what they do lol! Their website is linked above (cataphora.com), and they say the following on their front page: "The ubiquity of electronic communications is a double-edged sword. They help organizations function, but also provide myriad ways for malicious insiders to cause serious harm. Our solutions help you efficiently identify problematic behavior without having to create predefined rules that require you to anticipate every possible bad act" Ah, don't you love how AA is becoming a hub for internet 'security' peddlers of all sorts lol?! Hey, hire us! You need to have our special algorithms for monitoring your employees emails and file-searches so you can stay on top of possible industrial spies (I hope the UM is paying some of their billions for such services given how much contact they have with those spying-prone Chinese universities lol!) and 'insidious insiders', cool. I suppose this stuff has to get done, but I find it a sort of sad commentary on our modern world, seeing so many rather parasitic and damage-and-destruction-control operations, as it were. "Behavior software" is probably some set of algorithms for flagging problematic keystroke/access 'behaviors' lol, spin-offs of search-optimization stuff designed to get induced subsequent purchasing behavior, but in this case resulting in employee sanctions/warnings?! Lovely...
say it plain
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 2:38 p.m.
Plus, according to their website, they seem to also do more of the usual run-of-the-mill checking on the keystrokes and website-visits patterns of their clients' customers. This way they can generate more of the endless reports to businesses about how their actual and potential customers, got to optimize that potential!, are 'behaving', i.e., reviewing their products, visiting social network sites, etc. Isn't it wonderful how the constant monitoring we are subjected to is getting you to get more out of life ?!
xmo
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 1:08 p.m.
"Cataphora wants to recruit University of Michigan students to work in the new office, according to the company's website." Great for U of M students who would other wise leave the state.
Original Ann Arborite
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 5:33 p.m.
Wow, I guess all this support for U of M students is showing that us locals have no experience/talent/education etc. Thank you 4 being such a benefit 2 our A2 community! The students r getting spaces and money 4 new start-ups etc! Gee...
Wolf's Bane
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 12:09 p.m.
Basement offices? Let's hope this guys have a radon mitigation system. I'm going to a bake sale today at my son's daycare for cancer stricken AAPD officer because the city didn't radon was much of an issue in AA! However, glad to see software companies setting up shop in AA; from Menlo to boot!
Max Peters
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 11:28 a.m.
No definition of "behavior software"?