WBT Systems, the Irish-founded e-learning infrastructure company, is on target to take a listing on the US Nasdaq and Dublin stock exchanges this time next year. The company is also considering a listing on the iX market, the proposed merger of the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
Speaking to The Irish Times this week, WBT president Mr Peter Zotto said a recent institutional funding round of $20 million (€21.05 million) would be sufficient to take the company to profitability in seven quarters' time, unless the company grew faster than currently planned.
Original investors Delta Partners and 3i now share a 15 per cent stake in WBT with new investors Bank of Ireland, UK company, Casanove, and a number of Davy Stockbrokers' private clients.
WBT is on course to more than double its revenues this year to more than $20 million, and its 100-strong workforce is taking on 10 new employees monthly. Its offices are located in San Francisco, Boston, and Dublin, where all WBT's software development activity takes place.
Like Smartforce, WBT has refined its business model to stagger revenues, and its business growth lies in a contract backlog. It leases its e-learning platform software to large enterprises for an initial lump sum, this is then supported on a subscription basis over the contract period.
Mr Zotto said WBT's key challenge was offering value to customers rather than cost savings.
He now sees a market opportunity for WBT worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
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