By Doreen Hemlock
Add another German tech company to the list of firms opening offices in Miami.
AnyDesk, the Stuttgart-based firm that makes a fast and secure software platform for remote work on desktops, laptops, phones and other devices, plans to open in South Florida later this year, building out its new Americas operation. Its Miami office likely will initially hire about 10 people, mainly account managers for the Latin American market, says JD Mersinger, AnyDesk’s Americas sales director.
The move comes as AnyDesk mobilizes some $70 million in Series C funding led by global growth equity firm General Atlantic and announced in November. Backers see opportunity because of the shift to remote work worldwide, especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
AnyDesk says its remote software has been downloaded more than 500 million times since the pandemic began. The company now has more than 100,000 customers in some 190 countries, including such global heavyweights as Google, McDonald’s and Bosch. Users like the platform for its high speeds and low latency. AnyDesk’s founders developed a proprietary software that transmits only the changes in a page, not the whole page, speeding transmission and using less bandwidth for remote work, says Mersinger: “It works very well in countries, like many in Latin America, that have limited bandwidth.”
Founded in 2014, AnyDesk entered the US market in late 2020, setting up a temporary office in the Clearwater-Tampa area, where its new Americas sales director had long worked as a management consultant with Deloitte. Mersinger this year opened a permanent office in the Tampa area, growing his staff to about 30 including some who work remote. He plans to add 60 more people in the US this year, including those in new offices in Miami and in cities in other U.S. time zones, he told Refresh Miami.
“We’re hiring across the board, from sales to account management to customer service, human resources to finance,” says Mersinger. “As we gain larger and larger numbers of customers, it’s going to be required that we have more localized support.”
AnyDesk scores high in reviews compared to such rivals as TeamViewer and Splashtop. Besides its speed and low latency, reviewers like its affordability, starting out free for personal use and around $10 per month for home offices. They’re also keen on its security, including what Mersinger calls “military grade encryption.” Plus, AnyDesk offers clients the option to store the solution on premises, not only remote.
Worldwide, AnyDesk now has more than 200 employees, with offices that also include Berlin in Germany, Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, plus a center in Tblisi, Georgia in the Caucasus region by eastern Europe. It plans to employ at least 300 people globally by 2023, says CEO Philipp Weiser.
AnyDesk’s Miami expansion underscores growing German interest in South Florida’s booming tech market. Berlin-based Grover just opened a U.S. headquarters in Miami’s Brickell area, offering customers monthly rentals of tech products. Grover plans to hire more than 100 people for that hub. In January, 1NCE, a German Internet of Things network carrier with offices in nine countries, chose Miami over New York, San Francisco and Seattle for its North American headquarters that could eventually house 100 to 150 employees. In December, everphone, a Berlin-based one stop shop that supplies, repairs, replaces, and recycles mobile devices for enterprise customers, announced that it selected Miami for its U.S. headquarters, citing the Magic City’s proximity to talent, high-growth companies, and investors.
Mersinger, who’s originally from Chicago, says he’s found German businesses to be strategic and streamlined, taking pride in being “process-oriented” and “information-driven.” At AnyDesk, he says staff communicate well to work together, not in silos, with processes clear, for example, on how to approach and assist customers, “to accelerate outcomes and growth.”
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