In his latest blog on business in Ireland, our local Managing Director waxes lyrical about the lure of Dublin to the fast-rising tech companies of the world.
With nine of the top ten global software companies now present
in
Ireland, the country is experiencing a tech boom, particularly
in the Dublin, the capital city.
The first wave of "Born in the Internet" technology
companies arrived a number of years ago with giants like Google,
Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and LinkedIn setting up their European
headquarters in Dublin. More recently a second wave of companies
– Dropbox, Zynga, HubSpot - have followed in their
tracks.
Dublin is now the European hub for many exciting US headquartered
high growth tech companies such as Airbnb, Squarespace, Zendesk,
Nitro, New Relic and Udemy. Many of these are spreading from the
US west coast and, in particular, Silicon Valley, to set up in
Dublin's regenerated docklands area, nicknamed Silicon Docks.
And those companies are growing at a really fast pace.
It's not just the big multinationals: some European software
companies, like
Serbian-founded game developers Nordeus, have also set up in
Dublin. They are followed by others that recognise the talent, tax
and technology reasons for choosing Dublin.
The key ingredients to Dublin's success in attracting these
companies include: a strong, educated workforce; the youngest
population in Europe under 35; a transparent and low corporate tax
environment; the only English-speaking member of the Eurozone; the
location being attractive for international talent; and, a strong
choice of service providers.
IDA
Ireland, the agency responsible for attracting foreign direct
investment (FDI) to Ireland, provides a range of services to make
the bridge from the US to Europe very easy to navigate with little
bureaucracy. They also provide services such as plugging tech
companies in with recruiters, finding appropriate office space and
introducing them to current companies that have chosen to locate in
Dublin.
These tech hubs are growing, and fast, as word spreads of the
benefits.
I've been working with Nordeus as head of TMF Group
(Ireland); they are just one of the growing list of emerging tech
companies that we provide a range of services to. When setting up
in Dublin, these companies should partner with a local expert to
get help with things like incorporating companies, registering for
taxes and payroll, performing monthly accounting, processing bank
payments and ensuring compliance with tax, regulatory and company
filing requirements. We work closely with our US and European
client companies to provide a complete "back office" so
they can concentrate on what they do best: inspiring the next wave
of tech companies to come and set up in Dublin, too!
Read more about doing business in Ireland
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.