Irish software company Poppulo secures €30m in funding

Irish technology company Poppulo has raised €30 million in funding from US venture capital firm Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) as it looks to boost its presence in overseas markets.

Poppulo said it intends to use the funds to invest in its technology platform and to take on additional sales and marketing staff across North America and Europe.

SGE is a Philadelphia-based company that last year invested €20 million in Phorest, an Irish company that provides office management software for hair and beauty salons. The firm, which has previously signalled plans to increase its investment in Irish tech companies, has invested over $1 billion (€870 million) in deals to date. Its portfolio includes Credit Karma and Outbrain.

Formerly known as Newsweaver, Poppulo rebranded in 2017 as it expanded from a company providing email marketing solutions to one more focused on internal communications. It currently employs 163 people in west Cork and 37 in Boston.

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Communications platform

Founded by chief executive Andrew O’Shaughnessy in 2002, Poppulo has developed an employee communications platform that is used by more than 800 organisations including Unilever, Bank of America, Nestlé, Johnson Controls, Rolls-Royce, Boston Scientific CRH, Kerry, AIB and the Ardagh Group.

Overall, Poppulo claims 30 per cent of the largest employers in Europe as customers and 20 per cent of the biggest ones in the US.

Announcing the investment on Wednesday, Mr O’Shaughnessy said it would accelerate the company’s already rapid international expansion in the employee engagement sector.

“The companies and organisations who are winning know how absolutely crucial internal communication is not only for employee engagement but also in terms of recruitment and retention – and ultimately the bottom line,” he said.

Success

SGE is a division of Susquehanna International Group (SIG), one of the largest privately held financial services firms in the world, with 300 employees in Dublin alone.

“Employee communications and engagement is tremendously important for business success and we view it as a market with enormous potential - a market led by the vision, ambition, and innovation of Poppulo,” said Jonathan Klahr, managing director of SGE.

“We’re very excited about what we can achieve together, and how this investment will enable Andrew and his team to shape the sector’s future, as Poppulo escalates its global influence and expansion through best-in-class innovation and thought leadership,” he added.