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The last time Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited Braintree and its CEO Bill Ready, Ready shared with the mayor an anecdote about a Chicago entrepreneur named Max Levchin. Many years ago, Levchin had an idea for something resembling PayPal, but never had the support and infrastructure in Chicago to get it off the ground.
[ibimage==41300==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]Since then, things have dramatically changed. In 2013, Braintree was acquired by eBay and now operates as a service within PayPal.
On Thursday, Emanuel dropped in again on Braintree, this time in its brand new offices on the 8th floor of the Merchandise Mart. The company relocated to this 65,000-foot space to house the growth that it promised the Mayor two years ago. It currently employs 180 people and plans to add 360 jobs by 2017, even if that requires knocking down a wall.
[ibimage==41301==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-left]All of the glass-enclosed conference rooms are named after popular emoticons save three, which exist to honor Braintree's past. The smallest is named after suburban Bartlett, the second after Wicker Park, and the largest is known as '111 N. Canal,' in honor of the company's previous space, which it now subleases to Signal.
Braintree is one of several tech powerhouses headquartered in the Mart, along with 1871, Motorola Mobility, and Razorfish. But Braintree is the only one with its own atrium.
"Since the Mayor visited for the opening of our last office in 2012, we've tripled the local Chicago team and expanded to more than 40 countries,” said Ready. “Together with PayPal, we're building the future of commerce and we couldn't be more proud to be doing that from our home town here in Chicago.”
Before he cut an oversized ribbon and said, “Get back to work!,” Mayor Emanuel made a few remarks about the company and its place in Chicago's ongoing tech boom. “I don't create jobs,” said Emanuel. “The entrepreneurs, people like Bill and your team here, create jobs.” But, Emanuel said, civic involvement plays a crucial part. “It's no accident that we're in a building that has a train stop."
