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3 companies expanding or relocating to Las Vegas Valley, adding 81 jobs

Updated July 10, 2020 - 2:37 pm

Three businesses are opening new locations or expanding in the Las Vegas Valley, bringing 81 new jobs to the area over the next five years.

The expansions were facilitated by the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA), which provides customized solutions for any business looking to expand to Southern Nevada, according to Chief Operating Officer Jared Smith. Though these businesses are not bringing thousands of jobs to the area, Smith said they are indicative of a focus on entrepreneurship and will add a diverse set of opportunities to the valley.

“These companies are a great example of how our economic development partners here in Southern Nevada are focused on small businesses,” Smith said.

REGO Automotive, an Israel-based company, is opening its first U.S. location in Clark County. The company, which manufactures high-end vehicle parts, will be moving its headquarters to the area this year, according to co-founder and president Eli Yarkoni.

The operation will create at least 25 new jobs with an average wage of $18 per hour, according to an LVGEA statement.

Yarkoni said the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the opening of the location since he and his associates are still in Israel but that he is looking forward to setting up shop in the Las Vegas area to reach the U.S. market.

“It’s not easy to open a new operation in a foreign country, and the LVGEA have played a major role,” Yarkoni said. “We are ready to move.”

Smith said the pandemic has paused some business expansions, but he added that there has “never been a better time to invest in economic development than during an economic crisis.”

Artificial intelligence company Ai-RGUS currently operates out of the International Innovation Center in Las Vegas and is projected to create at least 50 jobs at $20 an hour, according to the LVGEA statement.

Ai-RGUS is focused on using deep learning and computer vision algorithms to automatically verify all the camera views in a camera system — technology that is the first of its kind, CEO Daniel Reichman said.

This technology has been in use at Duke University since 2017 before the company commercially expanded in 2019 and made the move to Las Vegas, Reichman said. He added that the company hopes to usher in a greater presence of artificial intelligence research and technology in Las Vegas to diversify the area’s economy.

“What we need over time is to maintain competitiveness with the algorithms we provide and to develop new, state-of-the-art research and technology,” Reichman said. “The aim is to attract talent that can support all of these goals for our company.”

GuineaDad, a company that manufactures products for guinea pig pet owners, moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to North Las Vegas. Founder and CEO Si Lee said that after a fruitless search for an adequate facility in California, he decided to bring the company to Nevada, where policies are more business friendly.

The company is adding six jobs at an average of $20 per hour, and Lee said he is glad to have found a place where his company can continue to grow.

“We have had very good luck in finding good quality employees here — smart people and people who work hard that will definitely help us expand in Las Vegas,” Lee said.

Contact Amanda Bradford at abradford@reviewjournal.com. Follow @amandabrad_uc on Twitter.

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