Silicon Valley firm backs tech cluster plan to lure staff to Irish west coast

A SILICON Valley company founded by Dragons’ Den star Barry O’Sullivan is on a hiring drive at its Galway hub.

The US-headquartered Altocloud, which has 16 staff at its base in Portershed in Galway city’s Innovation District, is among a number of high-tech firms in the west and mid-west that have launched a campaign to attract IT specialists, engineers, software developers and data analysts to the region.

Co-founder and chief technology officer of Altocloud, Mayo man Joe Smyth says the company is planning to increase staff numbers by 20pc next year, divided 60/40 between R&D and sales.

“There is a great technology cluster here in Galway city and county where many companies are doing very interesting things in the R&D space.

“In fact, since the 1970s, Galway has been a place which attracts high-tech companies, in both IT and med-tech,” said Smyth, who has worked for tech giants Apple, Nortel and Cisco over a 25-year career.

“We would love to find people from a range of skills who would like to settle back into the Galway area. There is a vibrant start-up community here, plus the added bonus of the very attractive lifestyle and culture of Galway.”

Altocloud is a predictive communications software platform that uses analytics and machine learning to improve online interactions, and helps e-commerce firms convert online browsers into buyers.

TechWest 2016, an event to showcase jobs on offer from firms such as Altocloud, General Motors and payments company ACI Worldwide — as well as the benefits of making the move from Dublin to the west and mid-west — will be held at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin on Wednesday October 26.