A big Charlotte company opened a new HQ in Utah. But local workers shouldn't worry.

Charlotte-based AvidXchange is expanding out West.

The payment automation company announced Wednesday the grand opening of its new corporate offices in Sandy, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. There, the company plans to spend $35 million to add more than 200 jobs over the next five years.

CEO Michael Praeger told the Observer that the company wanted to have a presence out West for customer service purposes, because about half of its customers are in western states. Furthermore, Praeger said, AvidXchange liked the skill set of the local workforce available when it acquired Salt Lake City-based Piracle, a maker of payment management tools, in 2014.

"Having another market to pull (talent) from is key," Praeger said, adding that having a headquarters in a different time zone will help it better serve West Coast customers.

Praeger said AvidXchange's primary headquarters will remain in Charlotte, where it employs about 1,000.

The company will expand a number of functions at its Utah office, including software development, product development and customer support, Praeger added. Jobs there will also support AvidXchange's fintech partnerships, like the one it has with Mastercard.

"We won’t be relocating. But as we grow, there will be more of a focus on adding new roles in the Utah market. We expect probably there will be more of a mixture of growth in both places," said Praeger, who co-founded AvidXchange in 2000.

The company's new office announcement comes about a year after it moved its local employees to its newly constructed, 200,000-square-foot offices at the AvidXchange Music Factory. The sleek six-story building includes amenities such as Xboxes, shuffleboard, gyms and basketball courts.

AvidXchange's 30,000-square-foot Utah office will similarly be state-of-the-art and will include a gym, game rooms, patios and standing desks.

AvidXchange has grown over the years organically and through acquisitions, including Piracle as well as Ariett, a Massachusetts company that specializes in technology that lets businesses automate processes and manage employee expenses. Industry experts have speculated about an eventual IPO of AvidXchange.

Valued at $1.4 billion as of last summer, AvidXchange is one of Charlotte’s so-called unicorns, a term for a privately held company with a valuation of at least $1 billion, according to TechCrunch.

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 5:22 PM.