Remitly Global, Inc. (“Remitly”), a leading digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families, has announced it will increase operations in Cork, creating approximately 120 jobs over the next six months.
Established in Seattle in 2011, Remitly employs over 1,800 full-time equivalent employees either working out of our headquarters in Seattle, Washington, at one of our seven other office locations around the world, or remotely. The mobile-first provider of remittances and financial services for immigrants has served over five million customers globally across more than 75 currencies.
In June 2020 Remitly established its Fraud and Compliance Centre of Excellence in Cork and in that time has grown to more than 100 employees. In this next phase of growth, Remitly will be hiring roles that include Customer Protection Associates, Customer Success Team Managers, Program Specialists and Compliance Analysts.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment Leo Varadkar said: “Congratulations to the Remitly team on this expansion, which will see the creation of 120 new jobs at the company’s office in Penrose Dock. Great news for Cork and I’m sure the company will have no problem filling the new roles with the wealth of talent in the area. The very best of luck.”
“As Remitly continues to grow, we’re incredibly excited to nearly double the size of our talented team in Cork this year,” said Rene Yoakum, Chief Customer and People Officer at Remitly. “We are working to transform the way immigrants send money globally and doing it in a way that is truly customer centric. We look forward to welcoming 120 new Remitlians to the team who share our passion for serving customers, solving fascinating problems and having fun with talented colleagues.”
Remitly has recently taken nearly 20,000 sq ft at Penrose Dock, a new Grade-A office complex at the heart of Cork’s new docklands.
Fiona Nagle, Director, Global Risk Operations said: “We’ve already hired 110 employees in Cork and are currently recruiting for 120 additional roles, growing the Cork team to 230 team members this year. The opportunity to build the Cork team with local, and customer-focused talent is exciting.”
Dermot Kennedy, Director, Ireland Operations said: “IDA Ireland has supported our team in a business-friendly environment and has a strong record of collaboration found here. Industry alignment is also key and we have been able to partner with University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology, which is exciting for us as we look to our future in Cork.”
CEO of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan said: “Today’s announcement by Remitly is very good news from a company that has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Remitly’s presence in Cork strengthens the South West region’s FinTech cluster. Its plans for its Fraud and Compliance Centre of Excellence is a strong vote of confidence in the highly skilled and talented workforce available in the region. I wish Remitly the very best with this expansion.”
Remitly is currently hiring across a series of functions including, Customer Protection Associates, Compliance Squad Investigators, Compliance Analysts, Program Specialist and Customer Success Team Managers. To explore opportunities at Remitly Cork visit https://www.remitly.com/ie/en/careers
Google For Startups has today announced the launch of its Startup School programme in Ireland. The series of virtual training courses will launch this April and will be available to startup founders and their teams throughout the country.
The initiative aims to provide support to startup founders and their teams by offering a series of free, hands-on virtual courses aimed at helping them to grow and advance their businesses. The interactive sessions will cover a wide range of areas and will feature Google tools and products such as Google Analytics, Google Ads and Google Cloud as well as training around topics such as funding, expanding internationally and becoming an effective founder.
The courses will be offered for free on Wednesdays and Thursdays for six weeks starting on Wednesday 13th April. A number of the training sessions will be led by successful founders including Pat Phelan, Co-Founder at SISU Aesthetic Clinic, Alison Sheehy, Digital Marketing Lead at GYM+COFFEE and Ryan Scott, CEO of Dropchef. The Google for Startups Startup School is being run in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland and Dogpatch Labs, who will assist Google in reaching startup teams throughout the country.
Paddy Flynn, VP of Geo Operations at Google, said, “We are hugely excited to launch Startup School in Ireland. It’s no secret that Ireland is well known for its entrepreneurial startup culture and building successful startups. We want to continue our contribution to nurturing the startup community and providing free access to this training is one way of doing that.
“We are very proud of the great work Google has been able to achieve through partnerships with Irish startups and the startup ecosystem, and with the launch of Startup School we hope to reinforce our commitment to helping Irish businesses to grow and succeed.”
Jake Phillips, Ecosystem Development Director at Dogpatch Labs added, “We’ve always been focused on providing a valuable community for startups to support growth, share knowledge and form connections. Google’s Startup School will be another great avenue for startups to access expert knowledge to grow their businesses.”
Google has been successfully running programmes aimed at upskilling startups for several years now and has recently opened its virtual doors at an EMEA level. The Startup School courses in Ireland will be specifically available to and tailored for Irish businesses with the size of each session capped so that all participants have an opportunity to ask questions and interact with instructors.
Businesses in Ireland are currently struggling to comprehensively measure, monitor and report on the range of metrics that they contribute to as part of the energy transition and in taking positive climate action. According to new independent research* conducted on behalf of clean energy supplier, Pinergy, by iReach, 27 per cent of SME’s, employing less than 100 people, do not currently have any tools for effectively measuring, monitoring and reporting their consumption/contribution when it comes to energy, waste, water, air quality and carbon footprint.
The research also highlighted the top three actions businesses are citing to take in reducing their carbon footprint in 2022 are a focus on reducing electricity waste (43 per cent), reducing landfill waste and increasing recycling (40 per cent) and reducing water waste (34 per cent).
Despite a growing demand and trend among businesses to play their part to become more sustainable, without the tools to monitor and measure their contributions, many will continue to struggle to effectively manage and implement these stated actions and targets.
In response, Pinergy has now developed a new measurement as a service proposition whose aim is to make measurement and reporting accessible to all businesses regardless of size with their simple to use technology.
Through this new service, Pinergy will give businesses the ability to measure the performance of their premises or buildings under various metrics. The objective is to ensure that ‘what gets measured, gets managed’. Pinergy will install a series of meters and sensors in the building of its customer, that will enable the business to measure electricity & gas usage (regardless of supplier), water usage, waste usage (with select waste companies) and most timely of all, the quality of the air in their buildings.
In terms of measurable performance indicators, Pinergy will be able to offer businesses real time data, automated reporting, target and benchmark settings, carbon reporting and various other sustainability measurements across each of the categories covering energy, water, waste and air quality. For Property Management firms in particular this information can really help in delivering on key ESG goals.
Companies are already using Measurement as a Service to streamline their reporting; John O Donovan with the JLL Management Agent team at The Tio North Dock One & North Dock Two building in Dublin said: “This is a service that is very important to us, for monitoring energy and utility usage which reduces cost and saves time by bringing together a number of different reports into one portal.”
Commenting on this latest development for Pinergy, Colm Foley, Channel Manager, Business, said: “At Pinergy, we are constantly looking for new ways that our customers can make the most of not only their energy usage but how they can most efficiently manage their buildings and premises. Not only can we now give our customers the ability to measure sustainability KPIs such as their carbon footprint, but we can also show how well utilities such as Electricity, Gas and Water are being used across their property portfolio.”
“Delivering our Measurement as a Service offering is empowering our customers with data and insights to make more informed decisions that are better for the business and better for the environment.”
* Research was conducted nationwide as part of the iReach Business Decisions Omnibus Survey Q1 2022. Over 200 SME businesses responded to the survey, delivering a high level of statistical accuracy.
A report launched today by Google confirms a substantial economic opportunity for Ireland exists if a meaningful investment in digital skills is made. The comprehensive study developed in partnership with Amárach provides detailed insights into the digital capability needs, ambitions, and plans of 1,000 SME leaders throughout Ireland. The research proposes that a significant investment into digital skills could contribute an extra €9.5 billion to Ireland’s GDP by 2025.
To help Irish businesses succeed online, it is important to first understand how they’re doing today and what their goals are. That is why Google commissioned Amárach to engage SME leaders on their lived experiences and expectations of their digital journey. Titled Bridging the Gap – A Report on Digital Capabilities in Irish SMEs, the study, one of the largest surveys of Irish SMEs in recent years, identified four key gaps in digital capabilities:
Performance – how far businesses are from realising their full potential
Competence – how businesses are struggling to use digital skills
Investment – the role of funding, time, and talent in expanding competence
Advisory – the absence of qualified advisors and suppliers to meet digital needs
The current situation
Most Irish SMEs are in the process of adopting, developing, and evolving their use of digital technologies. But some are further ahead in the process than others. When asked to rate their own progress, the majority (62%) of Irish SMEs are ‘less than halfway’ on their digital journey. Recruiting people with the necessary digital skillset is also a challenge for Irish SMEs with 41% of respondents agreeing that they do not have a person within the organisation who is tasked with developing digital skills. Only 26% of SMEs say their employees have all the skills needed in terms of basic digital capabilities.
Faced with multiple demands on their time and energy, the report indicates that business leaders believe that the digital skills gap can be closed, but the challenge is prioritising it over other short and medium-term tasks.
Digital tools
The report finds that only 11% of Ireland’s SMEs feel their employees have the skills needed to successfully adopt and use new technology, a statistic borne out in the data where only 53% of SMEs have (or use) social media and video platforms and just 18% make use of customer insights tools. When measuring the number of SMEs that have their own business website, Ireland at 55% ranks comparably lower than the EU average of 77%[1].
The research shows that Irish SMEs are ambitious when it comes to investing in digital capabilities but 50% say they lack basic knowledge about which skills to prioritise. The report indicates that policy makers, advisors, and suppliers to the SME sector need to help address the priority gaps that will deliver quick wins, spurring decision makers to go further.
Commenting, Alice Mansergh, Director for Small Business at Google said:
“The timing of this report could not be more important, the decisions that business leaders and policy stakeholders make about digital capabilities in the coming months and years will have profound implications for the long-term productivity and profitability of the SME sector, and for sustainable economic growth over the rest of the decade. For its part, Google will use these findings to help shape the courses we provide via the Grow with Google initiative helping to train people in key digital skills that will empower them to embrace new business and commercial opportunities.”
The opportunity
Irish SMEs are very confident (56%) that meeting their digital skills objectives could make a big difference to business performance, and not just on one or two metrics. SME leaders believe that improving digital capabilities would allow them to increase wages and salaries (28%) and over half of those surveyed (57%) say that meeting their objectives [in digital capabilities] would help them to grow faster and become more profitable.
Bridging the gap infographic
Fiscally, the study proposes that an increased investment in digital skills could grow Ireland’s GDP significantly, calculating an increase of €9.5 billion (to €544.2 billion) by 2025.
Spotlight on Gender
The report identifies several gender differences highlighted in the areas of digital content and social media. Female decision makers in SMEs are more likely to use social media platforms (55% vs 51% of men). Women are more likely than men to see the creation of digital content as a top priority for digital skills development (35% vs 28% of men), as well as using digital tools and channels for marketing (21% vs 17%).
Even though more female leaders than male are likely to adopt and leverage digital tools, female leaders and decision makers in Irish SMEs are less likely to say their organisation is over halfway in its digital journey (58%) than men (65%).
In order for Ireland to achieve its digital ambitions, it is vitally important that female entrepreneurs and SME business leaders are enabled to play their part.
Regional breakdown
Comparing SMEs across the regions we find several differences. 45% of firms in Dublin are likely to think they are more than halfway along their ‘digital journey’ significantly higher than regional firms based in the midlands (32%). When it comes to the adoption of digital tools, Dublin again maintains a distinct advantage with 62% of firms using a business website compared to only 47% in the border region. Firms in Dublin demonstrate a stronger appetite to upskill with nearly 70% of business leaders in the capital likely to undertake a course in the next 12 months vs 59% of Border firms.
These and other differences in the research point to the need for a strong regional focus in Ireland’s digital skills agenda to ensure an equitable and impactful benefit for all our communities.
A post-Covid world for SMEs
The Covid-19 crisis has amplified the power of digital in building business resilience. During the first few weeks of lockdown, Google saw a 300%[2] increase in the number of people taking digital training courses. Research has shown that 80% of European SMEs increased their use of digital tools during the pandemic and those SMEs that embraced digital tools had 60% better revenue results and hired 3 times more employees[3] during the pandemic. The report launched today finds that 64% of SMEs in Ireland say their experience of the Covid-19 pandemic has incentivised them to invest more in digital skills with 76% saying digital tools are more helpful to their business now than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report has shown how Irish SMEs are ready to invest in the digital capabilities that will propel their success in the post-Covid era.
Gerard O’Neill, Chair of Amárach Research added,
“This research is unique in that it provides information and insight directly from SME leaders themselves. The study is comprehensive, representing a cross-section of Irish SMEs and is nationally representative of regions, genders, industries and business models. While we see some subtle differences in the findings, two things are constant to almost all SMEs; first that they believe investing in digital capabilities will enhance their business and second that they are ready to do that now – but they need the right supports. This research allows decision makers, policy makers and industry personnel to have meaningful and informed dialogue that can affect real and positive change to Ireland’s digital landscape.”
Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy said,
“Small and medium enterprises remain the backbone of the Irish economy; accounting for 99% of active enterprises and 70% of employment. Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices are committed to supporting these businesses with their digitalisation journeys, investing in the capabilities that will help lead them to international success.
For successful businesses, digitalisation isn’t an option, it is a crucial advantage that allows them to compete and win. The report launched today provides invaluable insight and guidance that will inform debate and enhance decision making as we further invest in digital capabilities across Ireland.”
New York-based tech company NS1, a leader in smart network control solutions, is establishing a presence in Cork, Ireland as a major step to further the company’s global presence. The company is set to hire at least 30 computer engineers from various backgrounds and levels of expertise over the next two years.
NS1 is scaling up its cloud-based NS1 Connect platform which orchestrates all the critical control points to understand, automate, and secure every digital interaction. With billions of users, applications and devices connected through the NS1 platform, only NS1 delivers immediate intelligence and control across evolving infrastructure.
This project has been supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Leo Varadkar said: “This announcement from NS1 will see the creation of 30 new roles over the next two years to help expand its Connect platform. It’s great news that the company has chosen Cork for this expansion, once again highlighting the rich pool of talent available in the area. This new facility will play a key role in the expansion of NS1’s global engineering presence and I wish the team all the best in this exciting new chapter.”
A key component of NS1’s expansion is building an engineering center of excellence, where NS1 can access and grow local talent interested in challenging work and in making a meaningful impact to the evolution of the company’s products. Ireland stood out as an exceptional source of skilled, diverse and passionate talent, well-versed in cloud development and innovation. The local NS1 management team in Cork is comprised of experienced, dedicated tech leaders who are passionate about their work, and are driven in establishing and leading high impact, high growth teams.
What makes NS1 stand out in the market is the variety of roles and opportunities to grow skills and experiences. Beyond offering senior tech opportunities, the company will train emerging tech talent in the latest cloud technologies and advanced programming languages such as Go.
“When locations for expansion were initially explored by NS1, Cork was top of the list for me based on the incredible success I’ve had establishing centers of excellence here in the past.
The type of talent I’ve seen in the Cork market aligns perfectly with our expansion strategy as we build products at a scale to meet global demand,” said David Coffey, Chief Product Officer at NS1.
NS1 strongly supports a hybrid working model, with remote work options available, but is also securing office space in Cork City that will provide an innovative, highly collaborative work environment. As NS1 expands its EMEA presence, complementing its sales-focused London team, Ireland will serve as a hub for future hires throughout Europe. Growing the Ireland site is targeted to grow NS1’s global engineering presence, working in close collaboration with other sites in the United States and Vietnam.
IDA Ireland’s Head of Regional Business Development, Ray O’Connor said: “The decision by NS1 to establish in Cork City is terrific news and a welcome addition to the South West region’s strong Technology cluster. Winning jobs and investment in regional locations continues to be a priority for IDA Ireland. I wish NS1 every success with this expansion.”
Three Ireland again has seen another data outage today, infact more than one outage which has been an issue since around 11.30 am this morning, the network briefly came back only to go down and Three claim it has been addressed, at the time of writing this post it has not been addressed for us. It is fair to say by looking on Twitter people are annoyed regarding the length of time and lame responses they got all day claiming to be addressed when it clearly is not. Three has a huge share in the Irish market with over 3 million customers, both mobile data and broadband services have been interrupted today for hours.. FULL SERVICE still has not been restored..
email from 3
Three simply told us via a Twitter DM the following which is pretty lame not specifying the cause of the outage
We can confirm that the root cause of the difficulties with data services that affected customers today has been resolved. Our focus is now working to restore full service as quickly as possible. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Two primary schools are celebrating today having made it to the All-Ireland final of Ireland’s first national digital skills competition, Ireland’s Future is MINE. The competition is being delivered through a collaboration between Microsoft Ireland and RTÉjr. St Hugh’s National School from Leitrim and Moyvore Primary School from Westmeath successfully progressed through the various stages of the competition, which challenges students to think creatively, collaborate and problem-solve as they re-imagine their communities and shape Ireland’s sustainable future through the world of Minecraft.
First announced in September, the Ireland’s Future is MINE digital skills competition challenges primary school students in both Ireland and Northern Ireland to use Minecraft: Education Edition to build critical 21st century skills by exploring fun challenges such as building their own NASA rover and coding their very own polar ice hut. These challenges are aligned to curricula covering subjects from English and Maths to Science, Geography and SPHE.
Delivered by Microsoft Ireland’s Dream Space teachers on Dream Space TV in collaboration with RTEjr, the lessons are designed both to support teachers to deliver digital learning experiences in the classroom and inspire students to think creatively and encourage them to explore the possibilities within STEM now and into the future.
Having successfully progressed through the semifinals, St Hugh’s National School and Moyvore Primary School will now compete in the All-Ireland final, which will be televised in June in a never-before-seen e-sports-style exclusive programme.
Commenting on the competition, James O’Connor, Vice President of Microsoft International Operations, said: “At Microsoft, we’re passionate about ensuring students are given the opportunity to develop the essential skills that are required to fully participate in our increasingly digital economy and society. The ‘Ireland’s Future is Mine’ digital skills competition is designed to do just that while encouraging students to have fun, think creatively and re-imagine a more sustainable future for the communities they live in.
“We are so proud to see this vision realised in the form of the many innovative submissions we have received from schools around the country. I want to congratulate the Microsoft Education team and RTEjr for their passionate work in bringing this competition to life and St Hugh’s National School and Moyvore Primary School for their dedication and commitment to creating such compelling entries.”
Suzanne Kelly, RTÉ Group Head of Children’s & Young People’s Content, said: “Congratulations toSt Hugh’s National School and Moyvore Primary School for advancing to the All-Ireland final! We have been blown away by the incredible creations that have been built in primary school classrooms across the island of Ireland since September. We should take a moment to say well done and thank you to all the teachers and pupils who signed up and submitted their work. The ‘Ireland’s Future is MINE’ competition has challenged primary schools across the country and provided students a fun and innovative platform by which to amaze us. We are very proud to have been there to assist them in shaping Ireland’s sustainable future with Microsoft’s Dream Space team and we can’t wait to see what innovations we’ll see next in the final!”
Microsoft Dream Space TV episodes and a full range of accompanying teacher guides containing direct links to specific curriculum areas, worksheets and extension tasks are available at https://Rte.ie/Minecraft.
Boots has launched a suite of digital accessibility and language tools on boots.ie to help customers who struggle to shop online. According to the 2016 census, 54,810 people in Ireland are blind or visually impaired, while just over 100,000 have a hearing related disability. This new technology will allow those customers to create a customisable and inclusive shopping experience, making it easier for them to navigate around the website.
Boots is the first retailer in Ireland to offer Recite Me technology on its online store, making it more accessible for visitors to the boots.ie website. For customers who have visual impairment, the new tools can change the font size, isolate sentences and swap the colour of the page to make it easier for customers to read.
The Recite Me assistive toolbar also includes screen reading functionality, multiple reading aids, customisable styling options and an on-demand live translation feature that boasts over 100 languages, including 35 texts-to-speech. These features give control to website visitors to manage how they view and interact with content to suit their individual needs.
Stephen Watkins, Managing Director at Boots Ireland said: “It’s an exciting day bringing market-first technology to boots.ie, helping customers to customise the site to suit their own needs. The launch of the Recite Me accessibility tools help those customers who find it more challenging to shop online to browse, shop and manage their accounts hassle free.”
To explore the accessibility support Boots now provides check out boots.ie and click the Accessibility Toolbar option at the top of the homepage.
The 2022 Global State of Crypto report released today by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini found that 58% of Irish respondents who do not currently own cryptocurrency are interested in learning more or are likely to acquire it in the next 12 months.
Compared globally to 20 countries surveyed, this is the largest ‘crypto curious’ segment in any one country, followed by Germany (53%), Colombia (50%) and the UK (49%). The majority (54%) of the ‘crypto curious’ Irish are women.
The survey revealed that 18% of Irish respondents currently own or have previously owned cryptocurrency, in line with levels of ownership in other developed countries, such as the UK (18%), Germany (17%), Australia (18%) and the US (20%).
Gemini is a platform that offers individuals and institutions simple tools to buy, sell, and store crypto like bitcoin and ether. It was founded in 2014 in the US by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The company recently secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Central Bank of Ireland, the first such licence granted by the Central Bank of Ireland since 2020.
Gillian Lynch, Gemini’s Head of Ireland and Europe, said, “This global survey reveals that Irish people have a strong appetite for crypto, which is expected given Ireland’s international reputation as a hub for financial services and emerging technologies. We are proud that the Central Bank of Ireland recently awarded Gemini an Electronic Money Institutions licence, which is a testament to our high standards of consumer protections. We look forward to bringing our simple and secure crypto services to customers in Ireland and Europe more broadly.”
The Global State of Crypto Report shares global adoption, barriers to entry, and attitudes around cryptocurrency and is one of a series of reports Gemini will launch this year.
Other key findings from the report include:
79% of Irish investors are holding their cryptocurrency for long-term gains, and 39% are actively trading their crypto.
35% of current owners are 25-34 years old and 28% of current owners are 35-44 years old.
40% of current investors were female and 60% were male, although 54% of the crypto curious segment are female, compared to 46% male.
