An Excellent Business Environment
According to the recent Surge Cities Index report that ranks the best places to start a new business or open a new branch, Phoenix is ranked as #11 top market in the United States. Phoenix has been ignored by investors for many years, but now the number of tech companies headquartered in downtown Phoenix has grown from 67 in 2012 to more than 300 today. The unemployment rate is at an all-time low of 3.4 percent, and the area enjoyed the highest average wage increase across all industries in the U.S. last year.
The area is a hub for technology growth and entrepreneurship and has several great educational institutions that have attracted a talented workforce. We play close attention to founder-run businesses in this area poised for explosive growth. Prior to creating Aldrich Capital Partners, founders, Raz Zia and Mirza Baig, personally led investments of $150 million in the region. These include Infusionsoft, which offers a cloud-based customer relationship management solution for small businesses; American Traffic Solutions (ATS), a leading provider of traffic safety, mobility, and compliance solutions for state, local governments, and corporations; and healthcare IT company Imaging Advantage, which was acquired by Envision Physicians services.