The London-based company, which aims to tackle harmful online content, plans to hire 37 employees for its new centre in Dublin.
Data analytics company Moonshot is opening a new software development centre in Dublin.
The company, which was founded in London in 2015 by Irish entrepreneur Ross Frenett and Vidhya Ramalingam from the US, intends to hire 37 new employees over the next three years and recruitment has already begun.
It is currently hiring for a head of development in Dublin.
Moonshot designs new methodologies and technologies to respond effectively to harmful online content such as violent extremism, gender-based violence, disinformation and serious organised crime.
It does this by delivering threat monitoring and analysis, digital campaigns, tailored interventions and a range of other services to governments, tech companies and international organisations.
Frenett said when he left Ireland during the recession, he believed being able to bring jobs back to the country would have been “too good to be true”.
“But this move for our company isn’t based on emotion. When we looked at talent and market access, Ireland was the obvious choice,” he said.
“We’ve spent the last five years growing our capabilities, team and client base, in response to both a continual increase in demand, but also the continued evolution of the threats posed by extremists, conspiracy theorists and organised crime.”
Ramalingam added that establishing a Moonshot base in Dublin is a key part of the company’s process to tackle harmful online content.
“There has never been a more important moment for us to scale our mission, and our Dublin team will get us there,” she said.
Ramalingam told Yahoo Finance UK earlier this month that the increased online activity in the last year has led to a “very worrying blending” of various ideologies that she said had previously been separate. She also told CNBC that the last year has been a “critical moment” when it comes to the spread of online harm.
Earlier this month, Moonshot announced that it raised $7m in Series A funding from transatlantic venture capital firm Beringea and UK-based Mercia.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar, TD, said he was pleased that Moonshot is planning to establish a new software development centre in Dublin.
“The data analytics firm operates in over 57 countries, which is a testament to the company’s success to date. I wish the company all the best as the team embark on this new project.”
