By Business & Finance 
The company is creating its first international tech hub outside the US
The new centre in Galway will be the first operation for Rent the Runway outside of the US. The company has five physical locations in the US.
“We are thrilled to open our first-ever international office in Galway, where we’ve had overwhelming support from the Irish Government and the IDA. From the start, it was clear that Galway was the perfect location for our new office – the city has an atmosphere of creativity, mirrors Rent the Runway’s cultural values, and excitingly, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2020,” said Rent the Runway Chief Technology Officer, Josh Builder.
There’s an incredible opportunity to tap into the growing STEM talent in the region, and we’re eager to begin establishing our Irish footprint.
Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD welcomed the announcement, saying:
I am delighted to see Rent the Runway choose the West of Ireland to open their first ever international office and create 150 new high-tech jobs. Galway City will be a natural fit for this innovative, progressive and creative company. Ireland warmly welcomes new firms in niche, highly skilled areas and Rent the Runway will join a growing number of disruptive companies based here. I wish them well for the future.
Rent the Runway history and future
Rent the Runway, headquartered in New York City, was founded in 2009 by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss. In March, Rent the Runway announced its largest investment to-date, of $125 million, bringing the valuation of the company to $1 billion. The company has been recognized by CNBC as the 9th most disruptive company in the world and as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.
The team in Galway will be undertaking in-house software development unique to Rent the Runway as well as supporting US operations by working on existing technological activity supporting Rent the Runway’s mobile and desktop platform through which new and current users and subscribers access their services.
The Irish teams will also be working on projects to expand and enable Rent the Runway’s unique fulfilment network, leverage data science to bring personalisation and insight to all aspects of Rent the Runway’s systems, and experiment with new data driven applications.
IDA Ireland
IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said:
This is an excellent investment by this leading, innovative company from the US East Coast. Galway, with its vibrant and growing technology ecosystem, is proving a most attractive location for investment and Rent the Runway choosing to locate its first-ever international technology office here will further enhance that reputation. It is also an endorsement of the confidence tech companies have in finding the right talent in the West.
“Rent the Runway will be a key reference seller for us in attracting further tech and consumer brand activity. This project from Rent the Runway is very much in line with IDA Ireland’s strategic objective to attract increased levels of investments to regional locations and the 150 jobs being created will be of substantial benefit to the economy of the city and West region.”
The project is supported by IDA Ireland.
