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SALT LAKE CITY — Snap Inc., owner of the popular Snapchat app, is looking to expand to Utah.
Tech news outlet Tech Crunch reported Tuesday that Snap is building a secluded research and development lab in Lehi, though the report has since been couched by the Los Angeles-based company. According to Snap, the company is merely looking to expand to the Beehive State, as well as several other locations.
“Contrary to recent reports, we do not currently have an office in Utah,” Snap Inc. told KSL.
Tech Crunch first learned of Snap’s expansion plans when Saratoga Springs engineer Dave DeLong announced he was leaving Apple to “start a new job at Snapchat” come Oct. 23. The news outlet then found a software engineer job opening for Lehi listed on Snap’s site.
However, interviewing local talent for the job is a part of the expansion process, Snap told KSL.
Tech Crunch speculated that expanding to Lehi would allow Snap to tap a supply of engineering talent from Brigham Young University where the company had “struck gold” before when they bought Scan.me, a startup founded by BYU students Garrett Gee, Ben Turley and Kirk Ouimet. Scan.me made the QR codes that eventually became Snapchat’s scannable Snapcodes.
An unnamed source told Tech Crunch that Ouimet was tasked by Snap to come back to Utah, build a team and start the new office on some projects, though this claim has not been confirmed by KSL.
Tech Crunch also reported that Snap is building a small team in Lehi, though Snap told KSL the company was merely looking to expand there.
This article will be updated with more information if it becomes available.
