Karlsruhe has steadily developed into an international high-tech hotspot and is regarded as one of the centers of excellence in Germany’s Digital Hub Initiative. As the first occupants of its new premises at Killisfeldstrasse 30 in the city’s Durlach district, BELLIN has had the offices specially designed for its team as a creative working environment, development center and meeting hub. The new office was officially opened on August 31.

The Karlsruhe site will focus on driving technical development of new BELLIN products and services. Thanks to its convenient location, the office will also serve as an international meeting hub. Additionally, BELLIN will be able to cultivate existing relationships with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and surrounding IT companies. “Karlsruhe offers unique access to a large pool of promising young talent from the local university. The area is also rich with very experienced developers already working at high-tech companies,” explains Jean Pierre Wenzel, Head of Development at BELLIN. “Karlsruhe is quickly emerging as a ‘German Silicon Valley’ and our ability to set up shop alongside high-tech companies and start-ups and the close proximity to research activities is a vision we are ecstatic to pursue.”

The decision to open another office, in Karlsruhe around 60 miles from the headquarters in Ettenheim, was made by CTO Dr. Wolfgang Kalthoff. “The fintech industry is under a lot of pressure to innovate. Combined with our own expansion drive, this situation requires us to hire additional highly-qualified developers,” explains Kalthoff, who has been responsible for development at BELLIN as CTO since October 2017 and has extensive experience in managing decentralized teams. Global software development works extremely well at BELLIN, as demonstrated by the many years of successful collaboration with the Vancouver office, which opened in 2004.

The offices in Karlsruhe cover the entire fourth floor – an area of almost 5,000 square feet – and offer 25 ultra-modern workstations. The new team currently boasts ten staff and has an international flavor, with employees hailing from Germany, France, Russia and Iran. As at BELLIN’s other locations in Ettenheim, London and Vancouver, the company attaches great importance to making the working environment an aesthetically pleasing, creative space in which employees feel comfortable and are constantly inspired.