Education technology firm raises €500,000 to expand overseas

Education technology company Code Institute has raised €500,000 in seed funding as it seeks to develop its suite of courses and expand overseas.

The funding was provided by Kernel Capital and Enterprise Ireland, and will help to roll out courses in areas such as data and analytics, and in how coding can be used to improve business.

"It's coding for non-coders," said Code Institute chief executive Jim Cassidy.

Code Institute works with industry advisors to develop and keep up to date courses it says are addressing the skills gap that exists in the industry both in Ireland and overseas.

It offers three-month “bootcamp” programmes that are available online or in a classroom, and which are fully accredited and certified by Edinburgh Napier University.

European footprint

“Part of our growth strategy is to increase our footprint across Europe,” Mr Cassidy said.

The organisation has operations in Ireland and partners in the UK, but is planning to expand further. On its list of targets are Holland, Italy and Germany, and Code Institute is looking further afield to southeast Asia.

Set up in 2014 with the intention of addressing a skills gap that could see 825,000 job vacancies across the EU by 2020, Code Institute is predicting a rise in demand for its services. It has had 150 people start its courses, both online and in the classroom but expects that number to grow to 400 this year, with between 1,500 and 2,000 students enrolled the following year.

According to Code Institute about 94 per cent of its students have been hired within three months of graduating.

Digital skills shortage

“Ultimately, there is no substitute for well-educated and talented people building great locally based companies; the shortage in digital skills is a concern for future growth in Ireland and abroad,” said Orla Rimmington, partner with Kernel Capital.

“Kernel Capital is pleased to support Irish edtech companies like the Code Institute as they expand internationally and aim to help fill the gap in ICT professionals predicted across Europe by 2020.”