ST. LOUIS – The CEO of Boundless Spatial says his company raised some eyebrows when it moved its headquarters from New York to St. Louis last year. The company is part of St. Louis’s T-REX, a downtown magnet for startups.

Andy Dearing said the move makes sense for several reasons.

“There’s been lots of people asking about why, why St. Louis?” he said.

The answer, according to Dearing, includes a recognition that area universities including SIU-Edwardsville, UM-St. Louis, St. Louis University and Washington University are all preparing students in fields of the future.

Boundless Spatial provides critical, geospatial data analysis for government and defense agencies and other businesses. Clients include the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Monsanto. Those two clients are located in the St. Louis area but Boundless has clients all over the world.

“The affordability of St. Louis, along with the talent that we have here, is very much of interest in organizations that you’re seeing here,” said Dearing.

In some ways, Boundless has also served as an ambassador for St. Louis when it works with Fortune 500 companies.

“We’re bringing them to St. Louis too and having them see what St. Louis is all about,” said Dearing.

When Amazon left St. Louis off its short list of potential cities for its second headquarters, some experts claimed the region lacked a depth of technical skills in its workforce Amazon was looking for. Dearing said it’s possible those experts are correct but believes St. Louis is moving the right direction. He says others in his industry from other parts of the country are noticing.

“Especially with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,” said Dearing. “You’re seeing a lot of the folks who set up shop out in D.C., they’re starting to look at St. Louis.”