One of the great Irish stories to come out of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is Irish personalised learning company Fishtree raising US$3m in a funding round that will enable it to create 25 new jobs.
Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com at Mobile World Congress, Fishtree’s chief executive Terry Nealon said half of the jobs will be created in Ireland and the other half in the US, bringing the company’s headcount to more than 45 people.
“We were founded three years ago and we understand the need to personalise education for students,” Nealon said.
Both Nealon and co-founder and CTO Jim Butler previously worked at HMH.
Nealon said Fishtree is unique in the marketplace in terms of its ability to give instructors/teachers access to resources automatically aligned to the needs of every learner and the data to act – all with the click of a mouse.
Fishtree’s platform allows educators to build courses and lessons from multiple sources and modes of content, including open education resources and premium content.
1:1 learning
“It allows a teacher to scale lessons to a 1:1 ratio even if it involves a class of 30 or more students,” Nealon said.
He explained the company has secured deals all over the world, including in the US, Korea, China, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Nothing beats a good teacher and we have set the standard for allowing teachers all over the world to provide more focused, personalised learning for all members of their classes.”
Fishtree, which has based its headquarters in Maryland, closed its Series A funding of US$3m in a round led by New Markets Venture Partners with participation from Recruit Holdings, ECMC, JISR and existing investors.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its reach in the US market.
