Utah’s information technology and software industry is thriving, and with the assistance of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) incentive program, Instructure, Inc., announced that it will expand in Utah.
“The education industry of Utah benefits from keeping companies like Instructure here at home. Education is my number one priority and a cornerstone of our economic development,” Governor Gary Herbert said. “The involvement of key players like Instructure is vital to the highly-skilled and well-educated workforce Utah has the capacity to produce."
Instructure estimates that it will bring 655 potential new jobs to Utah over the seven-year lifetime of the agreement. The average annual wage and benefits of these newly incented positions will be 125 percent of Salt Lake County’s yearly annual wage, including benefits. These wages and benefits will total about $235 million throughout the seven-year agreement with the state.
Instructure’s headquarters are currently located in Sandy, Utah; however, the company plans to expand in Cottonwood Heights.
“Instructure is growing faster than we anticipated,” said Josh Coates, CEO of Instructure. “At the close of 2010 we had a handful of employees and almost no revenue to speak of. Today we are closing the year with 200 employees and nearly 300 educational institutions under contract, including all of Utah’s public institutions of higher education.”
Instructure was founded in 2008 by two graduate students in the computer science program at Brigham Young University who wanted to create a simple and easy-to-use technology platform to facilitate learning at high schools, colleges and universities. The company launched the Canvas learning management system in February 2011 and now less than two years later, Canvas is used by more than 4 million learners from top-notch institutions such as Auburn University, Brown University and the University of Washington.
To fund the company’s expansion, Instructure will make a $2.1 million capital investment. It will also pay over $9.4 million in new state taxes over the seven-year life of the agreement.
“Instructure’s choice to stay in Utah shows the strength of Utah’s incentive program,” GOED executive director Spencer Eccles said. “We are pleased that Instructure chose Utah as the place they want to expand. The competition both domestically and internationally was significant.”
The GOED Board of Directors has approved a $1,892,969 Economic Development Tax Increment Financing (EDTIF) post-performance refundable tax credit, or 20 percent of the new state revenue paid by Instructure over the seven-year lifetime of the agreement.
Instructure is part of Utah’s Information Technology and Software Development Economic Cluster. Utah’s IT cluster is the largest industry cluster statewide and has been growing in Utah for nearly three decades. The cluster includes over 48,000 companies statewide.
About the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), Web: www.business.utah.gov
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) charter is based on Governor Gary Herbert’s commitment to economic development statewide. Utah’s economic development vision is that Utah will lead the nation as the best performing economy and be recognized as a premier global business destination. The mandate for this office is to provide rich business resources for the creation, growth and recruitment of companies to Utah and to increase tourism and film production in the state. GOED accomplishes this mission through the administration of programs that are based around targeted industries or “economic clusters” that demonstrate the best potential for development. GOED utilizes state resources and private sector contracts to fulfill its mission. For more information please contact: Michael Sullivan, 801-538-8811 or mgsullivan@utah.gov.
About Instructure
Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. We provide instructors and students modern tools and resources to empower the learning experience. Instructure offers Canvas – the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning management system. We also provide the Canvas Network, an index of open, online courses from Ivy Leagues to community colleges. To keep learning, visit www.instructure.com.