Educational Multimedia Group has secured a $14 million (€12.44 million) investment from a group including venture capital companies 3i and ICC. Independent News & Media has also invested in the firm.

EMG is a leader in applying technology to education. Mr Theo Lynn (26), a graduate of the Smurfit Business School, who set up the company two years ago, said the funds would be used to "roll out our leading-edge Internet solutions and pursue our e-commerce strategies".

This investment brings the amount raised this year to just more than $17 million. Other investors in this round of funding include AIB Capital Markets and some private clients of Goodbody Stockbrokers. EMG investors include Mr Sean Melly, formerly chief executive of WorldCom, which bought out TCL, a company of which he was a founder, as well as accountant and businessman Mr Bernard Somers. Mr Neil Graham, an investment executive with 3i, the British-based venture capital group, said EMG was differentiated in the marketplace by the technical excellence of its products, entrepreneurial management and, most crucially, "its vision to be a global player in a rapidly expanding market". Mr Liam Healy, Independent News & Media chief executive, said his firm believed EMG was a leader in the rapidly expanding technology delivered education market.