St. Petersburg continues to attract high‑tech firms, and the latest sign of that momentum is Viirtue’s relocation to a larger downtown office. The telecommunications and artificial‑intelligence company moved its headquarters from 401 16th Street N. to 360 Central Avenue in the First Central Tower, a move CEO Dan Rosenrauch says will foster collaboration and training for employees and partners.
Local growth and job creation
Founded in 2017 in a modest space on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Viirtue began with roughly six staff members. Today the company employs about 70 people, with roughly 20 based in Florida. Rosenrauch emphasized that the new space will accommodate future hiring, projecting an additional 50 positions by 2027 while maintaining a measured growth strategy.
Viirtue’s technology platform powers voice‑communication solutions that other brands sell under their own names. The firm works with more than 600 reseller and channel partners, extending its reach well beyond the Tampa Bay area.
St. Petersburg’s broader tech ecosystem
The city’s tech sector is expanding rapidly. According to CompTIA’s 2026 State of the Tech Workforce report, the Tampa‑St. Petersburg‑Clearwater metro area supports 95,163 tech jobs and generates an estimated $19.2 billion in direct annual economic impact. Nearly 6,700 technology businesses operate across the region, though the report aggregates data for the entire metro area, making it hard to isolate St. Petersburg’s exact share.
Viirtue joins a growing roster of firms that have chosen St. Petersburg as a home base. Investment firm ARK Invest moved its headquarters from New York in 2021, followed by the $15.87 million ARK Innovation Center, a 45,000‑square‑foot incubator in the city’s Innovation District. Online brokerage Webull relocated from New York in 2022, purchasing a 157,755‑square‑foot office building and employing 135 local staff by early 2025.
Maritime‑defense and data‑analytics companies have also taken root. PVM and Pole Star, both focused on Coast Guard support, relocated in 2022, collaborating on software tools for vessel‑tracking and security. Canadian cloud provider Oncore Cloud Services moved its U.S. headquarters from Atlanta in October 2025, adding four local employees and planning to hire ten more over the next three years.
Economic impact and community benefits
The St. Petersburg Innovation District reports more than $3 billion in economic impact over its first decade, including roughly $700 million from marine science and $1.7 billion from life sciences. While these figures encompass health‑care and research operations, they illustrate the city’s diversified innovation economy.
Rosenrauch, who first visited St. Petersburg in 2013, credits the downtown transformation—new high‑rises, restaurants, and gathering spaces—for making the city attractive to talent that might otherwise gravitate to larger tech hubs. He notes that some remote employees from other cities, including Austin, Texas, are already relocating to the Tampa Bay area.
“It absolutely is,” Rosenrauch affirmed when asked if St. Petersburg will remain Viirtue’s headquarters, underscoring the company’s confidence in the city’s future as a technology hub.
Original reporting: St. Pete Catalyst — read the source article.
