Young insurer Root Insurance is taking a big growth step.The 3-year-old company with a mission to sell insurance exclusively to good drivers received approval on Monday for state tax incentives for a project that is projected add 463 jobs in Columbus over the three years with an annual payroll of $38.9 million. The company currently has about 100 workers now.Also, the company said it will take 65,000 square feet of space Downtown at the new 80 on the Commons building being developed at 80 E. Rich St. It will begin moving in this fall, taking up two stories of the building and investing $2 million in the site.The tax credits have an estimated value of $8.7 million.“We have this core idea of this is how consumers want to purchase insurance. It’s an idea that resonating faster than we thought,” said Alex Timm, Root’s CEO and co-founder.The project was one of 10 to be approved Monday by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority. The projects will create 2,279 jobs and retain 924 jobs and lead to investment of $313 million across the state. The incentives for all projects have an estimated value of $15.6 million.Of the 10 projects, seven are in central Ohio, including plans by Dollar Tree to build distribution operations in Morrow County for Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. That project alone is expected to create 400 jobs.In all the seven projects in central Ohio are expected to create 1,163 jobs. And that isn’t counting Amazon’s announcement last week that it will build another distribution center in central Ohio. This one, in West Jefferson, will create another 1,500 jobs in the region.“It’s a lot of capital investment. It’s a lot of jobs over the next 18 to 24 months,” said Kenny McDonald, chief economic officer for Columbus 2020, the region’s economic-development arm. “It reinforces that this place continues to grow, not just in the core, but in the entire region, and in lots of sectors.”Root, the largest of the central Ohio project, has already been expanding at a fast pacey. A year ago, it employed about 15. Today, that number has risen to nearly 100. The company continues to hire engineers, data scientists and customer-service staff.“Business has really been growing rapidly. We’re hiring at a rapid clip,” Timm said.Timm said keeping the company’s headquarters Downtown was vital.“We think there’s just a lot going on Downtown, and it’s important to be right in the middle of it,” Timm said.Root’s premise is simple: Use smartphone technology to price auto insurance.Drivers interested in Root coverage download the insurer’s app and drive as they normally would for two or three weeks, typically. The app tracks how fast a driver goes, whether they brake hard or drive distracted.Then Root determined whether a driver is eligible for coverage, often at rates that run 30 percent or more below what a traditional insurer charges.The company offers coverage in 16 states and plans to be nationwide by the end of 2019. It recently received a $51 million round of funding from venture-capital funds, one of the largest funding announcement by an Ohio tech startup.