Moov, a data-fueled marketplace for used manufacturing equipment, today announced that Austin, Texas, will be the location of the company’s second headquarters.
The Tempe, Arizona-headquartered company will occupy 3,527 square feet at 701 Brazos St., site of the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown and Capital Factory, the startup accelerator, investment fund and co-working company. Cushman & Wakefield served as Moov’s commercial real estate broker.
“This decision establishes a beachhead for Moov in one of the country’s most critical, if not the most significant, current hotbeds for the semiconductor industry,” said Moov co-founder and CEO Steven Zhou.
Raymond Mahon, Moov’s director of customer success, will head the Austin office. Sammy Mustafa, the company’s partner development manager, will lead expansion of Moov’s sales team in the Texas capital. Mahon said Moov’s Austin office would adopt a hybrid work model. Go here to view the company’s job openings.
“We’re not satisfied with our more than 300% year-over-year revenue growth,” Mahon said. “We’re keeping our foot on the gas, and our growth is speeding up. We are projecting to do nine figures in revenue this year.”
Moov achieved profitability last year, but now is “laser-focused on hyper-growth, and increasing the company’s existing market share lead,” Zhou said.
Moov is the world’s most valuable used semiconductor equipment marketplace, and the fastest-growing.
“Opening an Austin office increases the talent pool from which Moov can recruit,” Mahon said. “We want to maximize the flexibility we offer our employees: Our people may choose to live in Austin or Tempe, regardless of role. We hope that opportunity enables us to attract the best talent from two of the nation’s hottest semiconductor-industry hubs — the Texas capital and the Greater Phoenix area.”
Moov’s HQ2 news comes just a few months after the semiconductor manufacturing equipment marketplace announced it had closed a $41 million series A funding round led by Tiger Global.
The recent capital raise and the opening of the company’s Texas-capital digs are representative of Moov’s continued expansion push. It plans to open an East Coast office; increase Moov’s current presence in China and Taiwan; and open new offices in Europe, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
Global Chip Shortage Fuels Shift Toward Used Semiconductor Equipment
During the ongoing global-chip shortage, roughly 170 industries have slowed production because manufacturers cannot find the equipment needed to develop chips quickly enough. Moov has successfully structured and automated a real-time marketplace that connects buyers and sellers around the world. It also offers services including logistics, refurbishment, insurance, and asset management software. And, Moov’s marketplace reduces global electronic waste.
The semiconductor equipment-sales market is growing at levels never seen before, and is projected to reach $100 billion this year due to the worldwide chip shortage. In the next six to eight years, that figure is expected to cross $200 billion. Moov data shows the value of popular used equipment models have more than doubled during the past year alone. The global second-hand semiconductor equipment market now is worth at least $10 billion, according to Moov data. Company executives project that market to more than double over the next few years, surpassing $20 billion annually.
“Based on our observations in Austin, we could see the Central Texas second-hand market having a floor of somewhere around $100 million — and be as high as $250 million,” Mahon said.
With about $1.5 billion in active and available listings, it is poised to play a pivotal role in shifting the global equipment-purchasing mindset.
Central Texas Semiconductor Roots Enable OEM Synergies
Mahon added that the Austin location would benefit Moov by facilitating efforts to forge connections with the many semiconductor original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end-user companies based in Central Texas. That group includes Ambiq Micro, Infineon, NXP, Samsung, Vorago Technologies.
The combination of a greater Moov salesforce in Austin with a closer proximity to semiconductor OEMs and end-users “will help unearth key supplies of equipment benefiting anyone in our network,” Mahon said. “Moov will be able to cut through much of the noise that exists in today’s marketplace. It will allow us more direct access to previous unavailable supply, and connections with previously unreached buyers. The result? A more efficient and cost-effective marketplace.”