Tech company Applexus opening office in Calgary

Applexus CEO Sam Mathew (R) announced Wednesday that his company expects to create 125 Calgary-based jobs over the next five years (Photo: Twitter@calgaryeconomic)

Another tech company announced it's setting up shop in Calgary Wednesday.

Applexus founder and CEO Sam Mathew made the announcement downtown yesterday with Rajan Sawhney, Alberta's provincial trade, immigration and multiculturalism minister

Seattle-based Applexus offers consulting services for fashion and retail businesses that operate with SAP software.

The company says it anticipates creating 125 jobs over the next five years.

The province said in a release that it will invest $1.43 million in Applexus through its Investment and Growth Fund (IGF), which is designed to attract "high-impact investments" to Alberta or else convince existing ones to stay who may be negotiating with other jurisdictions.

“Calgary has the talent pipeline, access to global markets and competitive business environment for technology leaders like Applexus to thrive," said Calgary Economic Development CEO Brad Parry in a release. "With one of the fastest-growing tech workforces in North America, Calgary is a city of innovation and opportunity where bright minds and big ideas come together to do game-changing work across industries.”

"Applexus’ decision to set up a Canadian headquarters in Calgary is yet another vote of confidence in Alberta’s reputation as an exciting tech hotspot," said Nate Glubish, Alberta's technology and innovation minister.

NDP RESPONDS

NDP development and innovation critic Deron Bilous released a statement saying "The UCP has hurt our competitiveness in the tech sector and has had to rely on subsidizing companies to bring them to our province. They declared diversification a luxury and cancelled several programs that were working to attract investment and diversify our economy in favour of a corporate tax cut.

"If the UCP's corporate tax cut was working as advertised," he said, "and Alberta was truly competitive, we wouldn't need these subsidies for companies to move here."