The new Shift4 Payments headquarters will be located at 3501 Corporate Parkway in Upper Saucon Township. (image courtesy Google Maps)

Shift4 Payments, Inc., the payments processing firm and a global leader in financial technology, which processes billions of transactions annually, will be moving into a new corporate headquarters in the Lehigh Valley.

The company has announced it will relocate its headquarters to 3501 Corporate Parkway in Upper Saucon Township, where it will be sharing a building with Dun & Bradstreet. Shift4 will take up about 75,000 square feet at the new location.

Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments. (photo courtesy of SpaceX and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital)

Self-made billionaire Jared Isaacman started the company in 1999 in his parents’ basement as a teenager. Currently based in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Shift4 grew into an industry leader in integrated payment processing, connecting much of the world’s commerce.

When it came time to move to a new headquarters, Shift4 Chief of Staff Terrence Sullivan said the company was committed to remaining in the Lehigh Valley so it could continue to benefit from the region’s economic assets, which have helped the company grow and thrive.

“The root of our success here in the Lehigh Valley is the same as most significant employers in the area: access to a diverse talent pool, convenient market access to NYC and Philadelphia, and affordability,” Sullivan said. “Beyond that, we’ve always felt at home and welcomed in the community. So the Lehigh Valley has never given us a reason to reconsider our choice to do business and grow here.”

The relocation is expected to take place some time in Q2 2023, depending on when the space is ready, Sullivan said.

Shift4 Payments has 2,100 employees nationwide, and 600 in the Lehigh Valley, he said. That’s up from about 400 employees the company had in total in 2017.

“We are looking forward to the move to the new facility since it will give most of our Lehigh Valley-based employees a better workspace, more amenities, and the chance to work together in a single location under one roof,” Sullivan said.

A Palmer Township native, Isaacman is today one of the 2,000 richest people in the world, with a net worth of about $1.4 billion, according to Forbes.

He’s also an accomplished jet pilot who flew into space last year on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission, the first private human spaceflight with an all-civilian crew. He will return to space in the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission.

During a previous interview with Made Possible in Lehigh Valley, Isaacman discussed how the Lehigh Valley helped both his business success and his passion for aviation. He first developed his pilot skills at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, and has seen first-hand how Shift4 benefitted from the Lehigh Valley’s strong workforce and central location.

“I have no doubt this region has contributed to our success,” Isaacman said in the Made Possible in Lehigh Valley profile. “Being a short one-hour drive from Philadelphia and 90 minutes west of New York City, the Lehigh Valley provides greater access to diverse talent coupled with lower costs, solid transportation infrastructure and a higher quality of living than similar regions.”

Shift4 processes more than $200 billion annually and has more than 200,000 current customers around the world, according to the company. The company is valued at more than $4 billion.

The company’s technology can be found in about one-third of the nation’s table-restaurant and about 40% of its hotels, serving such restaurant chains as Burger King, Wendy’s, Applebee’s, and Little Caesars, and hotel chains like Hilton, Allegiant, Wyndham, and Best Western, according to the company’s website.

Shift4 technology can also be found in more than 120 stadiums in the country, including Philadelphia’s Well Fargo Center, Daytona International Speedway, Target Center (Minnesota Timberwolves), Levi’s Stadium (San Francisco 49ers), Amway Center (Orlando Magic), State Farm Stadium (Arizona Cardinals), and more.