WILMINGTON – Carvertise, an advertising company that utilizes vehicle “wraps,” announced Wednesday, Dec. 4, that it will add 50 employees in Delaware.
The 7-year-old national company headquartered in Wilmington was founded by Mac Nagaswami Macleod and Greg Star, both graduates of Horn Entrepreneurship at the University Delaware.
In the past three years, the company has experienced 150% growth and it plans to expand its reach further, officials reported. Macleod presented Carvertise’s growth strategy to the state’s Council on Development Finance in August, requesting a grant of $479,000 to support it. Ultimately, the council approved a $290,000 performance-based grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund.
Carvertise is a marketing firm that covers vehicles of participating drivers with vinyl ads. The agency creates the campaign, wraps the cars and maps strategic routes to build brand visibility for its clients. Carvertise then uses GPS to determine when and where their cars are on the road, providing comprehensive impression reports to clients.
The company has secured national partnerships with companies such as EA Sports, 7-Eleven, Empire Today and Norwegian Air. They have drivers across the country and sales outposts in Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. In addition, Carvertise has relationships with Uber and Lyft, so many rideshare drivers also participate.
Through this national growth, all operations and administrative activity has remained headquartered in Wilmington at offices off 6th Avenue in Browntown. It currently has 15 employees in Delaware, and the 50 new jobs will be in state as well.
Carvertise will use the performance-based grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund to advance their operations and marketing to sustain the company’s growth.
“We are proud to have Delaware roots and it is very gratifying to me to continue to grow here in Delaware; it’s a great place to live, work and play. We are grateful for the strategic fund support; it helps Carvertise continue its growth,” Macleod explained in a statement announcing the jobs.
Gov. John Carney said that Delaware is focused on supporting homegrown companies like Carvertise to ensure they continue to be successful.
“Delaware is proud to help support growing businesses like Carvertise – an innovative company with Delaware roots that is creating good jobs right here in our state,” he said in a statement. “This announcement only reaffirms that Delaware remains a great place for businesses of all sizes to put down roots, grow and create good-paying jobs in Delaware.”
By Jacob Owens
jowens@delawarebusinesstimes.com
