Cork technology start-up to create 120 new positions

A software development company set up by three Irish entrepreneurs in2011, is to grow its staff by a further 120 over the coming year, it was announced today.

The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, attended the announcement of the expansion of the skilled technology workforce at Xanadu, a global technology and services provider based in Cork which focuses on the online gambling industry.

The Irish startup, founded in 2011 with eight employees, is now an international market leader in the area of technology and service provision to the online sports betting market. It provides data analytics, programming, back office and technical support as well as 24-7 monitoring for online clients.

“Xanadu is a great example of an Irish company that has grown its business to become an international market leader,” Mr Kenny said. “ I am delighted to welcome the creation of 120 new jobs at the company in its Cork HQ. These highly skilled jobs will provide great opportunities for ICT graduates and tech sector workers.”

He said the growth of successful new Irish companies such as Xanadu was making a significant contribution to the recovery of the Irish economy.

The chief executive of Xanadu, Mark Brosnan, said that to meet the growing demand for its services, the company has to scale up its team significantly.

“Our continued expansion is a reflection of our absolute focus, international customer wins, invaluable client feedback and increasing market demand,” he said.

Mr Brosnan set up the company with colleagues Cian Nugent and Esme O'Flynn after they were asked by Matchbook. com to find experts who could develop software for the sports gambling sector, an area with which they already had experience.

When they found it difficult to locate people with the required skills, they made a pitch to Matchbox that they build the software themselves.

Since then they have built relationships with other operators in the sector and have also developed products they they develop for for the online gambling industry.

The company already employs 106 people full-time and between 15 to 20 on a contract basis. It now plans to grow total employee numbers to 220 over the coming twelve months. All the roles will be based in Blackpool in Cork.