Fergal McAleavey, ISIF and Jason Kehl, Vectra
From left: Fergal McAleavey, ISIF, with Jason Kehl, Vectra. Image: Iain White/Fennell Photography

AI-powered US cybersecurity firm Vectra brings 100 jobs to Dublin

21 Feb 2018

Following a €10m investment from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, US firm Vectra will establish an Irish R&D centre in Dublin.

Dublin will soon have a new R&D centre with 100 new jobs, thanks to US-based AI-powered cybersecurity software firm Vectra.

Vectra’s Irish R&D centre will be its first outside the US and comes off the back of an investment of about €10m from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF).

The investment is part of a wider funding round that will see Vectra raise approximately €30m and expand EMEA sales and support in Ireland, creating up to 100 jobs over the next five years.

There are a number of other major investors, including Dublin-based Atlantic Bridge as well as Silicon Valley-based Khosla Ventures, AI Ventures and AME Cloud Ventures.

The Dublin R&D centre will enable Vectra to deliver additional AI innovations in cybersecurity and grow its customer base across Europe.

The partnership between ISIF and Vectra will contribute to the already vibrant AI industry in Ireland, which recently became the first country in the world to develop an industry-driven nationwide third-level qualification.

Furthermore, with cybersecurity becoming more important every day, ISIF’s head of private equity, Fergal McAleavey, said this investment promises significant economic impact.

“With cybersecurity becoming critical for all organisations, we are confident Vectra will deliver a strong economic return on our investment while creating high-value R&D employment,” he said.

Hitesh Sheth, CEO of Vectra Networks, added: “This investment will accelerate our mission to transform cybersecurity with AI, including delivering additional innovations through our new Dublin R&D centre.”

Vectra’s Cognito platform automates cyberattack detection and response from data centre and cloud workloads to users and IoT devices.

This announcement adds to what has already been a strong week for the Irish sci-tech jobs scene. In fact, Vectra isn’t even the first US firm to announce plans to set up shop in Ireland this week.

On 19 February, California-based medtech company Quidel announced its plans to construct a new business centre in Galway, bringing 75 jobs to Connacht.

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, Belfast-based digital agency Made to Engage recently revealed that it will hire 28 new employees as part of a strategy to better serve its customers.

Jenny Darmody
By Jenny Darmody

Jenny Darmody became the editor of Silicon Republic in 2023, having worked as the deputy editor since February 2020. When she’s not writing about the science and tech industry, she’s writing short stories and attempting novels. She continuously buys more books than she can read in a lifetime and pretty stationery is her kryptonite. She also believes seagulls to be the root of all evil and her baking is the stuff of legends.

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