WESTFIELD, Ind. – Taranis, a precision scouting and agricultural intelligence firm based in Israel, will spend nearly $10.5 million to lease and equip a facility in Westfield for its new global headquarters, the company announced Dec. 10. The move will create up to 60 high-paying jobs by the end of 2023, the company said.

Taranis was founded in Tel Aviv; the company had transitional headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., before deciding on a permanent location, said Mike DiPaola, general manager of North America and vice president of global sales for Taranis. Some workers have already moved into the 6,000-square-foot facility. Westfield is in Hamilton County in central Indiana.

The company wanted to find a location for its headquarters close to the growers it hopes to serve, he said. “We were looking for proximity to customers, proximity to talent and proximity to centers of academia,” DiPaola explained. “Proximity breeds responsibility. We want to sell in our own backyard. The closer you are to something, the more responsible you are.”

Once hiring is complete at the Westfield facility, the company will have more than 140 employees worldwide, he said. In addition to the United States, Taranis has workers in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. The company said it will consolidate sales, marketing and administrative functions in Westfield. It plans to hire workers for drone and aviation operations, customer success, marketing and sales.

Taranis monitors more than 20 million acres of land worldwide in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Russian, Ukraine and Australia. It has more than 19,000 customers.

The company looked at other cities, including Indianapolis, St. Louis, Raleigh-Durham and Des Moines, before deciding on Westfield, he said. DiPaola acknowledged the help of the office of Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and AgriNovus, which is charged with promoting and accelerating the growth of agbioscience in the state. “They do a great job as ambassadors,” he noted. “They have a great product to sell.”

Indiana officials met with Taranis during an economic development trip to Israel in 2018, said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus. “Taranis’ investment is the latest validation of Indiana’s ability to compete and win in the global agbioscience economy for high-tech, high-growth companies that will shape the future of food and agriculture,” he said in a statement.

IEDC said it offered Taranis up to $1.25 million in conditional tax credits based on its hiring plans. Because the incentives are performance-based, the company is not eligible to receive them until Hoosiers are hired.