RAPID CITY, S.D. — The owner of a Rapid City company that has increased its workforce by 1,ooo% in two years made an appearance on Capitol Hill to share his success story thanks to venture capital investments.
Property Meld CEO Ray Hespen testifying this week in Washington D.C. at a Senate subcommittee led by Senator John Thune about how South Dakota can become a hub for investment opportunities, as well as keep graduating students in South Dakota for tech jobs.
Ray Hespen, Co-Founder and CEO of Property Meld, said, “One of the most important things I wanted people to realize is that Rapid City can be the new ‘Silicon Prairie’. We’ve got this amazing opportunity where we’re showing it could be done. We’ve got a software company that’s impacting people nationally and saying how we can do more of this. And so that way we would. We would love to be the hub of South Dakota.”
A big part of Property Melds success comes from community resources and the support. Having outgrown their current space, the company plans to move into a new two story building in order to stay competitive with other companies in larger cities.
“The reason we are building the new building is that we are at capacity; we’ve got big things ahead of us. The new building gets us to at least 110 employees before we have to think about the next one. So really what this is, the new building, is the future of Property Meld. And that is continued growth, continued exposure in the United States, and obviously continues opportunities here in Rapid,” said Hespen.
Senator John Thune believes entrepreneurship is what will help South Dakota make it through the financial hardships of the pandemic.
“While we have made progress, the impact of COVID-19 makes solving the investment gap all the more important and all the more urgent. At a time when there has been economic uncertainty, entrepreneurs are the ones building businesses that will in turn create jobs,” said Thune.
Property Meld has a goal of reaching their capacity of 110 employees at their new location by 2022.
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