Zendesk Makes Significant Investment In France

Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE: ZEN) today announced its continued investment in France with two new office openings fueled by significant growth in the region. The company’s Paris offices will move to Station F, the biggest startup campus in the world, where Zendesk will become a partner. Additionally, the company’s Montpellier offices — home to the team behind the Zendesk Explore analytics product — will relocate to larger offices that are three times the size, providing hiring opportunities and capacity for around 50 employees.

“We are committed to growing our business in France and investing in the region because it offers top talent and a burgeoning startup community,” said Mikkel Svane, founder and CEO, Zendesk. “France is a fast-growing technology innovation hub with a digital ecosystem that is beginning to rival some of the top performing global regions, and we’re excited to participate.”

Zendesk’s business in France has continued to expand quickly with paid customer accounts growing year over year by nearly 50 percent as of December 2016. Current customers include utility providers Lampiris and Direct Energie; globally renowned surf brand Quiksilver; Chauffeur Prive, a private chauffeur hire app; and Le Slip Francais, a French underwear brand.

In Paris, Zendesk’s agreement with Station F will provide 47 seats at the campus to incubate local startups. Zendesk co-founder Alexander Aghassipour, Zopim co-founder and Zendesk Message GM Royston Tay, and BIME Analytics co-founder and Zendesk Explore GM Rachel Delacour will help evaluate Station F accelerator startup candidates. In addition, Station F will use Zendesk to provide customer support to all the companies present in the 3,000 seat Station F campus. The startup companies within Station F will get preferential commercial terms if they wish to use Zendesk solutions.

In Montpellier, the new offices will enable the company to continue to grow the local engineering, operations, and go-to-market teams to support the region and play a vital part in Zendesk’s product development globally. The Montpellier offices came about following the acquisition in 2015 of successful French startup We Are Cloud, the creators of BIME Analytics.

Alongside the new offices, Zendesk launched the France chapter of the global Zendesk Neighbor Foundation to work with local charitable causes around its office locations and invest back into the communities in which it operates. Zendesk executives have also committed to the #jamaissanselle movement, advocating for a stronger female speaker presence at conferences and events, continuing its commitment to diversity and inclusion globally.

“CSR is a key part of Zendesk’s culture. We’re pleased to be able to extend this commitment to supporting the communities in which we operate in France,” said Tiffany Apczynski, VP public policy and social impact, Zendesk. “This year, the Zendesk Neighbor Foundation is planning to give approximately $50,000 in grants in France, and the local team has committed to around 500 volunteer hours this year to support local causes.”

Modelled after Zendesk’s CSR program at its San Francisco headquarters, the volunteer hour commitments and financial support in France will help the following CSR partners:

• La Bulle Bleue:catering/gardening/theater by people with disabilities
• Face Hérault: mentoring/services for unemployed individuals, intervention in high school/universities
• Up To by Simplon:local development school for adult students (no previous degree required)

Along with Paris and Montpellier, Zendesk has four other offices in the region: the EMEA HQ in Dublin focusing on product development, sales, and support; sales, marketing, and support offices in both London and Berlin; as well as an engineering hub with sales and support teams in Copenhagen. The company has over 35,000 paid customer accounts in EMEA growing at over 35 percent year over year to end December 2016.