By Pádraig Hoare
Outsourcing firm Voxpro said it is to create 400 jobs in Cork as it opens a new office alongside its headquarters at City Gate in Mahon.
Voxpro, which will employ 3,000 in Cork and Dublin and 5,000 globally following the latest announcement, said it is planning more growth over the next 18 months as it scales its global operations.
The firm, founded by Dan and Linda Kiely, began life in 1995 as a paging company with six employees and once operated out of an office above a Cork pub.
In August last year, the Kielys sold a majority partnership to Canadian firm Telus International in a multimillion euro deal.
The firm said it is scaling operations globally alongside Telus International, with locations across North and Central America, Europe, and an expanding presence in Asia, supporting digital transformation, business and IT outsourcing, and digital customers in over 40 languages.
Campus 2 will extend to 40,000 sq ft and the new jobs will be business in management, training, tech support, consumer experience operations, sales, trust and safety, and finance.
Mr Kiely said it was “another exceptional year of growth” for Voxpro.
“This current expansion is a direct result of growth with current partners and new partners across multiple verticals in fast-growing tech including adtech, internet of things, fintech, retail, health tech, social media, and ride-sharing transportation,” he said.
Clients of Voxpro have included the likes of Google, Airbnb, and Stripe.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant MSD is to build a second manufacturing facility in Carlow, in addition to one announced as part of a €280m investment in Cork and Carlow last year.
The firm, known as Merck in the US and Canada, said it would create 170 jobs at the second facility, which will produce vaccines and biologics when up and running in 2023.
MSD employs around 2,000 in Carlow, Cork, Dublin, and Tipperary, and said the expansion is as a result of continuing increased global demand for its medicines and vaccines.
In February, it announced a new biotechnology facility in Dublin with up to 350 jobs when fully operational in 2021. In May 2017, MSD said it was investing €280m in Cork and Carlow
with an additional 330 jobs between the two sites. It said the latest investment is in addition to the 2017 move.
