A Canadian online gaming and software company is to create up to 100 jobs in Dublin as it relocates corporate operations and management to the city, siliconrepublic.com has learned.
Vancouver-based Veridigm is in the midst of a difficult corporate transition and is evolving from a telemedicine software company into an online gaming company specialising in bingo and slot jackpot.
The company’s vice president of corporate communications Alise Mills said the move is to help give the restructured company a clean slate as well as tap into the technology skills resources available in Dublin, a location swiftly gaining a reputation as a centre for online gaming operations.
She said the choice of Dublin was based on market conditions and trends. “Dublin is a leading city in the online gaming software and entertainment industry and Veridigm wants to be part of that leading edge,” she said.
Speaking with siliconrepublic.com, Mills said that another factor influencing the company’s decision to relocate to Ireland was the restrictive set of tough online gambling laws in the US that are affecting gaming company revenues.
“Our plan is to make Dublin our headquarters and make Vancouver a secondary office,” she said.
In recent weeks Veridigm revealed that it was negotiating an agreement to acquire the world’s second largest affiliate management company Canaffco, a move which will boost the company’s sales and give it access to gain new software licenses.
Canaffco will co-develop an entertainment driven site that will be operated through Veridigm’s subsidiary Magnus Showbiz.
Mills explained that approximately 35 Veridigm staff will relocate to Dublin from Vancouver. “Our plan is to take on an additional 25-30 people with software skills and see us eventually employing over 100 people.
Veridigm was originally a telemedicine business known as eNotes. In March 2007, the company’s management determined that it was no longer in the best interests of the company to pursue the telemedicine business, and began to seek other opportunities within the technology sector. It then determined that significant opportunity existed within the gaming software market.
“It has taken us six months to get out of the trenches. Our shareholders weren’t happy and our management weren’t happy. We’ve now turned everything around and we see Ireland as business-friendly, fantastic for accessing the skills we want and the beginnings of a thriving gaming market,” Mills said.
“At the core of this is shareholder responsibility. Our shareholders are our backbone. We will continue to communicate with them and appreciate their patience as the company re-emerges as a gaming software company,” Mills told siliconrepublic.com.
Veridigm is the second online gaming software company to cross the Atlantic after being driven out by restrictive laws. Last year, Californian poker software company Tiltware moved lock, stock and barrel to Dublin creating 200 jobs in the process.
By John Kennedy
