Back in 2012, Ibotta CEO Bryan Leach and his team would walk from their small downtown Denver office to set up a table on Blake Street. There, they would ask Rockies fans to sign up for their startup’s cash-back app.
In the years since, customers have downloaded Ibotta’s app 50 million times. They take photos of their receipts and earn cash-back rewards during daily shopping trips. The app brought in roughly $200 million in revenue by 2021.
Meanwhile, the tech company’s business has gone international, and it now operates customer loyalty programs for corporate giants.
Even so, Leach says he’s committed to Denver and its downtown.
It has paid an undisclosed amount to put its logo on the Denver Nuggets’ jerseys. The company has a “Denver first” hiring policy. It currently employs around 400 people in Denver alone.
And even as downtown struggles to retain companies, Ibotta is doubling down. Ibotta just signed a 10-year lease in a new building on the 16th Street Mall, as first reported by the Denver Business Journal.
“We're making a bet that over the next seven years of Mayor Johnston's tenure that he's going to continue to do amazing things with the city,” Leach said.
Why is Ibotta moving?
Currently, Ibotta’s headquartered at 1801 California Street. While he’s enjoyed his years in the building, Leach wants an office closer to both Union Station and Interstate 25.
The company has asked employees to return to the office three days per week. To entice workers back to the office, Ibotta needed to rethink the offerings of its space: more amenities, tighter security and easier access to restaurants, bars and cultural institutions, Leach said.
The new building, opening in September 2025, has all that. It spans an entire city block and has about 10,000 feet of space with views of the 16th Street Mall and Blake and Market streets.
“Being in LoDo is kind of the brick-and-timber vibe of Denver of the late 1800s, you know, when the trains used to come in and drop off their grain in the warehouses there,” he said. “It feels like you're in Denver.”
The new building’s signature is an outdoor patio area with room for a DJ and a bar. The building will also boast a high-altitude training center where workers can train for fourteeners, simulating the oxygen deprivation of Denver’s highest peaks.
Many in Denver still don’t exactly know what Ibotta does or why it’s so into the city.
Over the past decade, the company built loyalty programs for Walmart, Dollar General, Family Dollar and Instacard, so customers get rewards for shopping with these companies.
“We work with thousands of these brands that make the products that you know and love,” Leach said. “We work with them to help them promote their products on all these sites at once.”
Nationwide, Ibotta has more than 800 employees. The company went public in April, raising $664 million.
“We're basically using data and artificial intelligence to figure out the best way to price products for each person based on their purchase history,” Leach said.
Downtown has a long way to go.
Ibotta’s new office is a sign that post-pandemic investments in Downtown Denver and the 16th Street Mall may be paying off.
“Their recommitment to not only stay but to grow in the heart of our city is absolutely tremendous, said Kourtny Garrett, head of the Downtown Denver Partnership.
In the past year, downtown Denver has seen 40 new ground-floor businesses. Pedestrian activity and office work are ticking back up — a promising sign for a part of town that emptied out during the pandemic and has faced increased crime and a hit to its reputation.
But one of the most important metrics, the downtown office vacancy rate, is stubbornly high.
At 27 percent, it’s the highest office vacancy rate since the pandemic wrecked downtown.
Construction projects that have shut down roads and blocked off most of the 16th Street Mall for over a year have made accessing the city center challenging for many.
Ibotta CEO Leach is an evangelist for downtown Denver, the 16th Street Mall — and the mayor.
From the beginning, Leach was a booster for Mayor Johnston. He served as Johnston’s campaign finance chair, and he has championed many of the mayor’s policies, including his efforts on housing and homelessness.
Leach appreciates the effort the city is putting into investing in downtown. The voter-approved expansion of the Downtown Denver Authority, in particular, offers a promising future for the city center, with investments in affordable housing, cultural institutions and new businesses, he said.
Leach hopes by keeping Ibotta in downtown Denver and moving to the 16th Street Mall, the company inspires other tech companies to stay and lures new ones to the area.
