Gov. Rick Perry announced athenahealth Inc. is expanding its Austin operations, creating 607 jobs and a projected capital investment of more than $13 million. The state is providing $5 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) to close the deal on this expansion and job creation. Execution of the state's agreement is contingent upon finalization of a local incentive offer as required by program criteria.
"The Texas model of low taxes, smart regulations and fair courts continues to attract world-class companies like athenahealth looking to expand their operations," Gov. Perry said. "This TEF investment will create hundreds of high-paying tech jobs in Austin, building on the city's thriving technology sector and strengthening the state and local economies."
"We're thrilled at the prospect of growing our presence in Austin, a city with a culture and vibe that perfectly aligns with our own," athenahealth chairman and CEO Jonathan Bush said. "athenahealth is growing all across the country as we work to fulfill our vision of becoming a national information backbone to make health care work as it should. Austin offers a strong talent pool to aid in the important work we do at athenahealth to advance connectivity in health care."
athenahealth is a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records, practice management and care coordination. With this TEF investment, the company plans to establish a new facility in Austin to support its cloud-based health information technology services platform.
The Legislature created the TEF in 2003 and re-appropriated funding in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 to help ensure the growth of Texas businesses and create more jobs throughout the state. TEF projects must be approved by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House. The fund has since become one of the state's most competitive tools to recruit and bolster business. To date, the TEF has invested over $513 million and closed the deal on projects generating 70,460 new jobs and more than $23.7 billion in capital investment in the state.