Interactive digital production and marketing firm avVenta Worldwide recently announced a major $1.5 million expansion of its Costa Rican operations, according to the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX).
The company has acquired a new building in Plaza Bratsi, Heredia, north of San José, and will by the end of the year expand its staff by 40 percent, increasing from 500 to 700 employees. The company expects to continue growing and employ 2,000 people by 2010.
avVenta Worldwide designs Web sites, advertising banners and online marketing campaigns for clients such as General Motors and Digitas.
The company began operations here in 2005 with 30 employees. Now based in the U.S. city of Charleston, South Carolina, the company also has an office in Kiev, Ukraine.
Jay Noce, avVenta’s founder, chairman and CEO, noted that the company chose Costa Rica for its strategic location in a similar time zone as the United States and as a result of its competitive workforce of English-speaking designers and Web site developers.
“The company is going through a very good moment, and Costa Rica has contributed an important quota of this success,” Noce said. “We hope to continue growing in the country.”