US-based Evernote has chosen Chile for its first software development center outside the United States, a project on which it began work with InvestChile in September 2018. The center, which will focus on developing the application’s new characteristics, has so far hired over ten people and is looking to expand its team to more than 30 engineers this year and continue growing in future in line with the availability of talent.

The areas of expertise and programming languages involved include Java, JavaScript, Node.JS, React and Redux as well as knowledge of the management of large volumes of data.

Evernote, which has its headquarters in Redwood City, California (Silicon Valley), was founded in 2008. It has developed a productivity application that allows its more than 200 million users worldwide to capture, store and synchronize text, image and video files across multiple devices.

It was Ranjit Prabhu, SVP of engineering at Evernote, who proposed locating the new team of engineers in Chile. In his previous post as director of software development services at Amazon Web Services (AWS), he had seen at first hand the talent and professionalism of Chilean engineers.

His proposal was well received by Evernote’s CEO, Ian Small, who gave the go-ahead for the operation in Chile, which is led by Francisco Mardones, the company’s managing director in Chile.

“The aim is for Chile to become the company’s second largest software center; it’s wonderful to work in Chile where there is great digital talent and a time zone that enables us to do everything in real time. A number of IT companies are looking to relocate and have yet to discover Chile. We are the first and we are willing to talk about our story and share it with others,” sayd Ian Small, CEO of Evernote.

The director of InvestChile, Cristián Rodríguez, commented that Silicon Valley companies are seeking new global poles of innovation and technology in a bid to expand their market reach and see Chile as the best option in the region. Companies also seek locations that are aligned with their growth strategies, meet international work standards and offer talented professionals.