Wolfe Group, the Dublin-based technology management company, has secured £5 million (€6.4 million) in funding to support initial investment at its new data centre based in Park West and expand its consultancy services. The British-based venture capitalist group, 3i, took up the full amount of the private placing, which was organised by Dolmen Butler Briscoe. It values the company at about £20 million.
The Wolfe Group's 20,000 sq ft data centre can host a range of technology systems and is due to open next month and in conjunction with Sun Microsystems, Cisco and Oracle.
It will offer an incubator programme for Irish e-commerce start-ups. This programme will enable an fledgling e-commerce business access a dedicated and fully managed server, a secure managed link on to the Internet, and access and use of an application portfolio.
Wolfe Group is in the middle of a recruitment drive and hopes to almost double employment to some 60 people by the end of next month.
It is also seeking to expand into the lucrative British market for quality managed services and will open a sales office in Croydon, south London next week.
Mr Geoff Carragher, chief executive of Wolfe Group, said the Web hosting and technology services offered by the company were not geographically specific and could be sold throughout the UK.
He declined to comment on the value of contracts which the company had won but said he expected annual revenue to increase dramatically to £30 million from the current level of between £3 million and £5 million.
"If we follow our current market and business model, we would be profitable within two years," he added.
Wolfe Group, which was one of the first tenants in Park West, hopes to boost revenues by offering managed information technology services to companies establishing a base in the park.
The company provides a team offering practical consulting to Park West companies. It can also accept out-sourcing work for the data centre.
Wolfe Group was formed in March 1998 by four ex-Iona Technologies employees - Mr Carragher, Mr Pat Morris, Mr Fergus Roche, Mr Mark Rutherford.
