Indian company announced expansion to Newark, citing New Jersey’s strategic location, highly educated workforce and reputation as a life sciences and data analytics hub
Choose New Jersey is pleased to announce NeenOpal, a global management consulting firm with a specialized focus on data science, has expanded its operations to New Jersey. NeenOpal is based out of Bengaluru, India and currently has U.S. operations in New York and Atlanta.
“Choose New Jersey is pleased to welcome NeenOpal to New Jersey,” said Jose Lozano, President & CEO of Choose New Jersey. “This news is proof that our work with NASSCOM and VentureLink@NJIT is helping to attract new companies to New Jersey, and we are excited about our ongoing efforts to bring more Indian companies like NeenOpal to our state. New Jersey is home to a diverse, highly educated workforce and a robust innovation ecosystem, making it a perfect place for NeenOpal to expand its U.S. footprint.”
NeenOpal’s expansion into New Jersey stems from VentureLink@NJIT’s partnership with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the premier trade body and chamber of commerce for the tech industry in India. This collaboration facilitated interactions and engagements between business and higher education in New Jersey, leading to major IT sector victories for the state. VentureLink@NJIT is New Jersey’s largest startup incubator, providing programming, workspace, and expert mentorship to resident companies.
NeenOpal views New Jersey as an ideal location to reach their target customer base and ultimately made the decision to open an office in Newark because of the city’s strategic location and highly-skilled talent pool. New Jersey is located near major trade, financial and regulatory centers and provides companies access to one of the most concentrated and affluent consumer markets in the world. With unrivaled access to road, rail and airport networks, a business located in New Jersey can reach 33 percent of the U.S. population within a day’s drive from any location in the state.
“New Jersey is rapidly becoming a global life sciences and data analytics hub,” said Himanshu Bahmani, CEO of NeenOpal. “Expanding our footprint to New Jersey was a win-win for us from a location, talent and industry perspective. We look forward to calling New Jersey home and growing our business here to reach even more customers.”
Seeing consistent growth in data science and analytics adoption in the life sciences, logistics and financial services industries, New Jersey has become an epicenter for innovation. This is largely due to New Jersey’s universities and a highly educated workforce that can fill key positions in the data science space. New Jersey boasts one of the most highly educated workforces in the country: 40 percent of the state’s workforce hold a bachelor’s degree compared to the national average of 32 percent. In addition, New Jersey is home to the largest concentration of scientists and engineers per square mile in the U.S. The state also has the fourth highest share of STEM graduates in the country.
NeenOpal first met the Choose New Jersey team at a July 2019 NASSCOM/New Jersey partnership event in New Brunswick. Planning to develop core expertise in the areas of business intelligence, data engineering and machine learning in their new Newark office space, NeenOpal aims to create additional jobs over the next four years.
“It is critical to continue to build partnerships with entrepreneurs of all kinds, small or large, and New Jersey has recognized and addressed this need,” said Simon Nynens, CEO of New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII). “As the largest business incubator in the state, VentureLink@NJIT has had the opportunity to host a number of international companies looking to do business in New Jersey, and we have succeeded in facilitating real growth thanks in large part to our partnership with NASSCOM and Choose New Jersey.”
The Memorandum of Understanding between NASSCOM, VentureLink@NJIT and Choose New Jersey signed during Governor Murphy’s economic mission trip to India in 2019 has shown significant signs of strengthening the state’s technology industry. The partnership charted a course for Governor Murphy’s vision to bring small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to New Jersey by fostering a supportive ecosystem.
“Innovation is in our DNA, and we are confident that with NASSCOM as our partner, we will continue to see investment from Indian technology companies in New Jersey. We look forward to helping NeenOpal grow and thrive here,” added Lozano.
About Choose New Jersey
Choose New Jersey is a privately funded 501 (c)(3) economic development organization with a mission to stimulate job creation and attract capital investment to New Jersey. Choose New Jersey markets New Jersey both domestically and internationally as the best place to grow a business in the United States. Knowledgeable, experienced staff, supported by a network of State agencies and private partners, provide free, confidential assistance to guide companies in establishing operations in New Jersey. By harnessing the power of business, labor, academic and government leaders, Choose New Jersey enables growth across all sectors of the State’s economy, aspiring to build a stronger and more prosperous New Jersey for all. To learn more, visit www.choosenj.com.
