The Ontario government announced Friday it is spending $1.5 million to help a U.S.-based software company set up a research and development office in Kanata.
Qlik, a data visualization and business intelligence software firm that was started in Sweden and is now based in Pennsylvania, opened its first Canadian office on March Road in August 2015.
The company, which was sold to private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC in August for $3 billion US, said the new cash from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund will go toward building a lab focused on developing software for cloud computing, analytics and business intelligence.
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The $22-million project is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 and will create up to 100 new jobs, the provincial ministry of economic development said in a news release.
Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Bob Chiarelli said in the statement the announcement is part of the government’s “economic strategy to foster long-term growth.”
Mike Potter, Qlik’s senior vice-president of global engineering, said Ottawa’s proximity to the U.S. market, skilled workforce, quality of life and government incentives made it the “perfect location” for the new R&D facility.
An Ottawa native, Mr. Potter told OBJ last year the company considered a number of cities for its research hub before choosing his hometown.
“We took a very methodical approach to [choosing cities],” he said. “We went out and scored all the leading locations globally. By the numbers, Ottawa legitimately came up at the top.”
Founded in 1993, Qlik now has more than 2,500 employees worldwide and a market cap in excess of $3.5 billion.
