SoftServe
SoftServe, Inc., founded in 1993 in Lviv, Ukraine, is a technology company specializing in consultancy services and software development. SoftServe provides services in the fields of big data, Internet of things, cloud computing, DevOps, e-commerce, computer security, experience design, and health care. With its United States headquarters in Austin, Texas and European headquarters in Lviv, Ukraine, the company employes more than 12,000 people in 58 offices in 14 countries. It is one of the largest employers for software developers in Eastern Europe, and the largest outsourcing and outstaffing IT company in Ukraine. History Early years SoftServe was founded in 1993 in Lviv, Ukraine. Started by two post-graduate students of Lviv Polytechnic, it began as a software development company with headquarters in Lviv. The company was initially supported by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Incubator Center and its first known client was General Electric. The company opened its first office in the United States in 2000. SoftServe was instrumental in building Microsoft Bird's Eye service in 2004. It used the same concept that was later used by Google for its Google Street View. For its work on the project, SoftServe was invited to speak at Microsoft's annual conference where it was used as an example of business applications that could be built by technology corporations. Expansion and educational initiatives In 2006, SoftServe founded SoftServe University. It became the company's corporate training program for improving developers and retraining specialists. Based in Ukraine, it also offers international IT Professional certificates to employees who complete the program. With the launch of SoftServe University, the company became the first to establish a corporate university in Ukraine. In 2008, SoftServe also founded Lviv Business School at Ukrainian Catholic University. Growth and acquisitions SoftServe opened its United States headquarters in Fort Myers, Florida in 2008 and began holding an annual conference. By 2012, SoftServe was one of the largest IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine with 2,189 employees, third only to EPAM Systems and Luxoft. In 2014 SoftServe moved its United States headquarters from Florida to One Congress Plaza, in Austin, Texas (The company had previously operated an office out of Austin since 2013 and officially moved its headquarters to One Congress Plaza in 2014.) The same year SoftServe opened offices in London, Amsterdam, Sofia, Wroclaw, and Stockholm. The same year its employee base climbed to 3,900 employees Also in 2014, the company acquired Amsterdam-based tech services firm Initium Consulting Group BV. (Founded in 2012 and served mainly healthcare and private equity industries.) SoftServe also acquired European IT company UGE UkrGermanEnterprise GmbH. In 2015 SoftServe opened a new European headquarters in Lviv, Ukraine. It also organized an event in San Francisco, California along with IT professionals from Ukraine and members of the Ukraine consulate to address concerns about the country's operations in light of the geo-political situation in Ukraine. The same year the company named Chris Baker as the new CEO, taking over the role from Co Founder Taras Kytsmey. In January 2017, SoftServe acquired Wroclaw-based Coders Center, for