Dublin start-up SeeSearch scores major Middle East deal

19 Mar 2015

Wayra graduate start-up SeeSearch has landed a major deal with Dubai-based learning platform Edutech to bring its digital library discovery technology to the Middle East.

Libraries currently face new challenges integrating different types of digital and print resources, such as multimedia, e-books and online video, into their offering and discovery of these resources has proven a difficult challenge.

SeeSearch aims to simplify the search experience, ensuring the user only needs to search once to find all the information he or she requires.

Under the terms of the deal, Edutech will sell SeeSearch’s search and discovery service to its network of education and library customers.

Visualising knowledge

(Left to right) Irish ambassador to UAE Patrick Hennessy; Dr Hilary Kenna, CEO of SeeSearch; Minister James Reilly, TD; Shameema Parveen, CEO of Edutech; and ASF Karim, Edutech founder and chairman

The announcement was made at the Special Libraries Association – Arab Gulf Chapter Conference 2015 in Abu Dhabi, which was also attended by Minister James Reilly and Patrick Hennessy, the Irish ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

“SeeSearch is unique,” said Faisal Karim, Edutech director. “In Edutech, we take the best products on the market and recommend them to our customers – SeeSearch is now part of this.

“SeeSearch solves a complex problem for libraries with a simple and effective search and discovery solution.”

Dublin-based SeeSearch is a client company of Enterprise Ireland and has participated in Telefónica’s Wayra accelerator programme. 

“This is a major step forward for SeeSearch. Edutech is a leading education IT company in the Middle East and their commitment to excellence matches our own,” said SeeSearch CEO Dr Hilary Kenna.

“They recognise that SeeSearch puts the user at the heart of search, making it easier to search complex systems with just one search query and viewing all the results visually.”

Digital library image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com