Electronic payment company to create 120 jobs in Drogheda

THE US electronic payment company Yapstone will establish its European headquarters in Drogheda, Co Louth, creating 120 jobs there.

The announcement coincided with news that almost 100 new jobs will be created in Cork and Galway.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton welcomed the Yapstone initiative when he visited the firm’s head office in Walnut Creek, California, yesterday, calling it “great news for the north east and for the country”.

Mr Bruton is on a five-day tour of the west coast of the US, visiting Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Silicon Valley. He is travelling with IDA chief executive Barry O’Leary, who was present at yesterday’s announcement. The Minister will meet IDA-targeted companies during his trip.

Tom Villante, chairman of Yapstone, which he co-founded in 1999, was enthusiastic about opportunities in Ireland.

He told The Irish Times: “I think it’s going to be a huge opportunity for us. We really looked at a lot of different countries.”

Yapstone looked at Ireland very hard, said Mr Villante. “We probably did about nine months of discovery, taking in all factors,” he said.

A key player in the Irish move was Yapstone’s chief operating executive, Yvette Bohanan, who had previously dealt with the IDA while working for another company.

Yapstone already has a temporary office in Dublin. Mr Villante rejected suggestions that the Drogheda jobs amounted to a call centre, saying that some roles would be in customer service, while others would be in sales and in product research.

The 120 jobs will be created over three years, he said.

From its inception Yapstone set out to capture the $300 billion US apartment rental market by allowing rents to be paid online.

The company handles payments for holiday rentals online and also runs ParishPay, which processes online donations for religious organisations. Some $300 million has been donated through ParishPay so far, with the parishes involved “80 per cent Catholic”, according to Mr Villante.

In Cork, supply chain analytics firm Entercoms is planning to employ 30 in Mallow with the establishment of a new European headquarters. The new facility will create the highly-skilled roles over a three-year period, hiring specialised industrial engineers, scientists and business intelligence experts. Pharmacy chain Boots will create 27 jobs in Cork and Galway with the opening of new stores.

A further boost for Galway came yesterday with news that mobile content company Synchronoss will begin the second phase of its hiring plan for a research and development and operations centre in Galway.

The company plans to create 30 new positions in Galway over the coming three months. The positions will be in the areas of research and development, quality assurance and service delivery.