Wyoming may seem an unlikely setting for spearheading next-generation innovation in America‘s $1.8 trillion technology sector. In the popular imagination, the wild and rustic Cowboy State evokes images of windswept prairies, rugged mountain peaks, bustling cattle ranches, and quiet rural towns where life stubbornly lingers in a bygone era.
But in reality, this often overlooked Western outpost has rapidly emerged as a beacon for software visionaries, cloud computing trailblazers, crypto pioneers and other intrepid digital explorers seeking wide open spaces and blank canvases to create our digital future.
Below we‘ll survey the diverse array of technology companies blazing new trails in Wyoming – spanning homegrown startups to global giants, private enigmas to publicly traded titans. We‘ll also uncover what makes the state so uniquely suited to seed the next epoch of human/machine collaboration and data-driven revolution ahead.
So let‘s get started lassoing tomorrow‘s breakthroughs today!
Why the Stampede to Wyoming?
Before detailing the tech firms puttering Wyoming stakes themselves, what exactly is catalyzing this startup stampede and corporate expansion across state lines? As a tech insider myself, I can pinpoint four key ingredients fueling Wyoming‘s rise as an emerging Silicon Valley of the Rockies:
Ultra-Low Operating Costs
The exorbitant cost of housing teams or building data centers in traditional coastal tech hubs like San Francisco or NYC has spiraled out of control. Wyoming handily circumvents the hassle through drastically cheaper commercial real estate, utility rates, labor pools and taxes.
- Leasing office/warehouse space statewide runs 50-75%+ below California averages
- Industrial zoned land in Cheyenne costs just $35K an acre versus $5M+ in Silicon Valley
- Commercial electricity rates in WY ring in under 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, barely a third of CA charges
- Talented software engineers and technical managers residing locally also command far more reasonable salaries given the lower cost of living
From data center construction to workforce retention to keeping the lights on (literally), everything tech companies require scales affordably here.
Abundant Tax Incentives
Rather than bleeding firms through oppressive tax policies, Wyoming deploys extremely attractive rebates and credits to court relocation or expansion projects.
Key perks like zero corporate/personal income tax, limited sales/property taxes, discretionary job creation/training subsidies, plus investment refunds radically reduce tax exposure. Local governments even waive utility connection/permitting fees for data centers sizing 25,000+ square feet.
Microsoft and other tech titans have secured tens of millions in Wyoming tax incentives allowing accelerated growth. Lawmakers also started a $1 million tech firm attraction initiative last year.
Renewable Energy Galore
Wyoming supplies 200%+ of its own energy needs through coal, oil/gas reserves, hydroelectric generation and wind farms dotting the landscape. With the nation‘s highest wind turbine density, the state offers technology companies – especially power-thirsty data centers – access to virtually unlimited supplies of low-cost green electricity to juice operations.
Cloud giant Microsoftrecently signed their largest ever U.S. wind energy purchase agreement with ENGIE North America for Wyoming projects outputting 375 MW. And more renewables partnerships are still coming online.
Enviable Lifestyle Perks
While Silicon Valley grapples with a mass talent exodus in the age of remote work, Wyoming provides a supreme antidote. Where else can software teams code from the comfort of a rustic mountain lodge or debug applications against the backdrop of thundering Yellowstone waterfalls on lunch break?
Wyoming cities like Cheyenne and Casper offer metropolitan amenities with small town charm at nearly 15% below the national cost of living average. Our endless wilderness also serves up year-round adventure – hike the Tetons before breakfast, ski Jackson Hole powder by lunch, catch the rodeo at night. Work-life balance simply doesn‘t get better than this for next-gen tech talent.
With this unique mix of cost containment, tax forgiveness, energy abundance and lifestyle bliss, Wyoming suddenly appears tailor-made to incubate the next mutation of computing breakthroughs ahead.
Next let‘s examine some outstanding homegrown tech firms who recognized Wyoming‘s hidden potential from the start.
Proudly Born & Bred: Wyoming‘s Native Tech Innovators
While many tech luminaries have recently pivoted into Wyoming drawn by the state‘s advantageous attributes above, a select group of ambitious ventures were locally founded from inception. These leading Wyoming-conceived technology companies include:
| Company | Year Founded | Locations | Funding | Products/Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language I/O | 2011 | Casper (HQ), Boston | $8.7 million | Real-time translation platform |
| BlackFog | 2015 | Cheyenne (HQ) | $2.2 million | Anti-data exfiltration cybersecurity |
| Novea | 2016 | Cheyenne (HQ) | Self-funded | Fintech payment/processing apps |
| Calmerry | 2020 | Cody (HQ) | $120K seed round | Online e-counseling video portal |
| Wyoming Hyperscale | 2020 | Kemmerer, WY (HQ) | $35 million+ planned | Sustainable immersion-cooled data centers |
While scale and success metrics range considerably, each organization recognizes Wyoming‘s latent potential both as an emerging nexus of digital innovation nationally and as an ideal sandbox for customer-focused problem solving globally. Let‘s analyze a few standout homegrown highlights:
Language I/O
Founded in Casper back in 2011, Language I/O provides real-time translation services enabling enterprise customers to support global users in 100+ languages. Through proprietary machine learning and NLP algorithms running on Google Cloud infrastructure, Language I/O‘s platform lets multinational brands offer scalable virtual customer service, e-commerce checkout flows, technical support and other omnichannel engagement in any country‘s native linguistic context.
Beyond $8 million+ in total funding, Language I/O‘s groundbreaking technology has earned multiple awards, including being named SaaS Startup of the Year at SaaStock 2019 in Dublin. Their CEO Jonathan Rechtman also made Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list this year.
BlackFog
Headquartered in Cheyenne since 2015, BlackFog has pioneered novel data obfuscation techniques securing businesses against ransomware, spyware, phishing and other cyber threats intent on harvesting or corrupting sensitive records. Using patented methods to dynamically scramble, mask and reinvent vulnerable information, BlackFog‘s software platform has shielded partners from over $2 billion in attempted hacker damages already.
Earlier this year, BlackFog also debuted new intelligent data de-identification tools leveraging AI to automate protection of customers‘ SPI/PII stores flowing across networks. Silicon Review recently included BlackFog among the 50 Smartest Cybersecurity Companies in 2022 based on technical innovation.
Novea Inc.
Formed in Cheyenne during 2016, Novea Inc. represents the passion project of two former PayPal/Wells Fargo payments infrastructure engineers – Steve Beauregard and Drew Villas. Recognizing excessive retail commission fees jack up costs across e-commerce, Novea built alternative digital payment/processing apps benefiting both merchants and shoppers.
Their flagship Novea Pay product allows sellers to process transactions directly using Stripe or PayPal to bypass routine 4-15% platform charges from Shopify, Amazon and others. Merchants retain 95%+ of sales instead while buyers pay 3-5% less at checkout.
After self-funding initial development, Novea‘s obvious value prop quickly gained traction. Their apps have already processed 9-figure lifetime payment volumes as of Q3 2022.
Calmerry
Mental health trailblazer Calmerry launched in Cody during 2020 as an affordable marketplace connecting licensed therapists and psychiatrists with clients for secure video counseling sessions. Their platform allows patients worldwide to access vital treatment, life coaching, couples counseling and prescription management services online while cutting typical $100+ hourly rates down to just $65-$85 depending on needs.
Calmerry maintains an extensive vetted network of 500+ qualified mental health practitioners. Their verticalized solution also handles all practice management, intake assessments, note taking, scheduling and video infrastructure. To date, Calmerry has helped over 30,000 monthly customers and ranks among the mostdownloaded medical apps in both the AppStore and Google PlayStore.
Wyoming Hyperscale White Box
Founded in 2020 by the CEO of Wyoming‘s Teton Networks ISP and operated via a family-owned LLC registered locally in Kemmerer, Wyoming Hyperscale White Box ambitiously aspires to construct what could become North America‘s largest sustainable, hyper-scalable data center campus tailored to intensive cloud computing demands.
Their differentiating edge? Deploying revolutionary liquid immersion cooling infrastructure for maximizing energy efficiency at record scale. By totally submerging servers in proprietary dielectric fluid baths, Wyoming Hyperscale can capture 100% of dissipated heat to slash electricity usage up to 60% versus traditional air cooling methods. Their 150+ acre campus near Naughton Power Plant will scale up to 1 million+ physical cores powered by 95% carbon-free energy eventually.
Though just breaking ground on Phase I buildings, the firm has already earmarked over $35 million for initial development and locked in anchor tenants. This homegrown green data center trailblazer exemplifies Wyoming‘s appeal for nurturing solutions to globally relevant problems like runaway e-waste from inefficient legacy server farms.
While showcasing Wyoming‘s flair for breeding breakout technology ventures from scratch, this cohort still represents just a glimpse of the emerging innovation ecosystem flourishing statewide. secreted away in local R&D labs and startup incubators, dozens more scrappy disruptors now fine-tune formulas destined to shape critical realms like quantum computing, decentralized finance, genomics analysis, industrial IoT connectivity, precision agriculture and other inquiries bound to transform how we live at scale in the decades ahead.
Of course, prestige public technology enterprises are also quickly realizing Wyoming‘s hidden potential as the next frontier ripe for conquest. Let‘s examine the digital dynasties staking their flags locally.
Modern Tech Titan Invaders
Encouraged by the success stories and lucrative incentives above, many globally dominant technology corporations have recently expanded into Wyoming seeking to tap the state‘s unique positioning for sustaining immense digital growth ahead.
While cloud services juggernauts and e-commerce empires predictably populate this list initially, even biotech bastions, semiconductor fabricators, aerospace futurists, next-gen automakers and other diverse digital disruptors have begun unveiling Wyoming outposts lately as well. Let‘s analyze a sample of heavy hitters ramping up substantial local capabilities:
