A high-profile Oakland County tech company is expanding south of 8 Mile Road, opening up a new office in downtown Detroit.
Detroit Trading Co. has leased an over 10,000-square-foot space at 601 W. Fort St. that it is using as a call center. So far that space has been filled with 20 new employees, and the company still has plans to grow next year.
"We're renovating another 30,000 square feet," says Matt Clayson, vice president and general counsel for
Detroit Trading Co. "It's available for future growth and leasing to compatible companies."
The Southfield-based company got its start creating technology platforms that gathered, analyzed, and organized Internet sales leads for car dealers a decade ago. It sold them on an exchange to automotive dealerships. It has since grown to a staff of 47 employees, including the 20 new hires in Detroit.
"A majority of the firm’s growth is happening in the city limits," Clayson says.
One of its most recent projects is creating what Clayson describes as experiential centers, which is being branded as a car show. That basically means Detroit Trading Co is building out an automotive showroom that features a combination of brands of vehicles.
Today auto buyers can only see different cars within the specific brands offered by an auto dealership. Detroit Trading Co. leverages its connections in the auto dealership world to bring all of those brands under one roof. Detroit Trading Co. recently debuted its first iteration of the concept as a pop-up in Eastern Market last weekend.
Source: Matt Clayson, vice president & general counsel for Detroit Trading Co
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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