Nebraska Innovation Campus welcomes Spreetail as latest partner

Spreetail, a Lincoln-based e-commerce firm formerly known as VMInnovations, will move into space at Nebraska Innovation Campus by spring 2016.

Spreetail announced the name change and move to NIC at an all-company gathering. NIC, Tetrad Property Group, the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development joined in the announcement.

"This is an amazing time at Spreetail," Brett Thome, the company's chief executive officer, said. "The transition to Nebraska Innovation Campus will continue to propel us to becoming a major player in online retail. There are three things we really care about: our customers, our team and our community. Our new office will benefit all three of those."

Spreetail has expertise in software, business development, affiliates marketing, order fulfillment, operations and logistics, customer experience and business analytics. The company has served more than 5 million customers and its 2014 revenue was $116 million. It celebrated its millionth positive review in 2014; this year, it hit the 100-employee milestone.

 "We look forward to the energy and innovation that the Spreetail team will bring to NIC," Dan Duncan, NIC's executive director, said.

Wendy Birdsall, president of the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, said a company like Spreetail has many options when considering where to locate.

"We look forward to strengthening this relationship as the company continues to create quality jobs in Lincoln," she said.

Eric Zeece, the interim director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, said the agency would be providing assistance to Spreetail from its Site and Building Development Fund and Customized Job Training program.

"It is projects like this that our state programs were designed to support," Zeece said. "Spreetail's decision to continue to grow here in Nebraska keeps opportunities for high-quality jobs for our talented workforce."

Locating at NIC gives Spreetail new opportunities to collaborate with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The company already has connections to UNL's Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management.

Raikes School Director David Keck said Spreetail has a strong track record of hiring Raikes graduates, alumni and interns. It also has sponsored and collaborated on Design Studio projects at the school.

"We look forward to an even more valuable engagement between the university and Spreetail at its new location," he said.

NIC is a research campus designed to facilitate new and in-depth partnerships between the university and private-sector businesses. At full build-out, NIC will be a 2.2-million-square-foot campus with uniquely designed buildings and amenities that inspire creative activity and engagement, transforming ideas into global innovation. For more information, visit http://www.innovate.unl.edu.

Tetrad Property Group is the private-sector development partner for Phase I of NIC. Tetrad provides a full range of development services for the campus, including master planning, construction management, leasing and property management. For more information, visit http://www.tetradpropertygroup.com.