‘Dragon’ expects big revenue rise

The newest RTÉ “Dragon” Sean O’Sullivan said yesterday heexpects revenues at his Avego group to increase by between 50% and 100% on 2011.

The Cork-based Irish-American entrepreneur — credited with inventing the term cloud computing — said that worldwide revenues at Avego increased by 100% last year.

Avego, which has its headquarters in Kinsale, provides real-time information and management systems for the passenger transportation sector.

Accounts filed by Avego show it recorded a trading loss of €1.25m in the year to the end of Dec 2010. A note states that the firm — established in 2007 — has secured a financial commitment of $20m (€15m) from Mr O’Sullivan’s investment arm, SOS Ventures, and that €4.5m has been drawn down.

The accounts state: “Given this commitment, the directors are confident that the company will be able to trade out of its current loss-making position.”

In an interview, Mr O’Sullivan said that Avego ’s results aren’t representative of the group’s performance “as the bulk of our sales are done in the US and China and there are not seen in the Irish company’s accounts”.

The self made multimillionaire said the Irish unit is carrying out the R&D work for the group.

One of the company’s main products is focusing on “real-time ridesharing” that allows individuals to carpool at very short notice with pioneering technology that takes advantage of GPS navigation devices, smartphones, and social networks.

This year, Avego will implement its largest ridesharing project to date in the San Francisco bay area. The company believes its real time ridesharing allows the users of its product to beat congestion and high petrol prices.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “Our growth has happened incredibly quickly and that is down to the strong quality engineering at the company.”

The company currently employs 70 people between Ireland, China and the US. Mr O’Sullivan said he hopes to add 15 technical staff to its 40-strong Irish workforce over the next 12 months.

The Irish firm has a number of positions open currently, and Mr O’Sullivan said: “We could expand faster if we were able to get the talent faster, but there is a massive shortage of tech talent across the ICT sector and it has to be addressed in a systematic way.”

Mr O’Sullivan said the Avego business “has really hit the ground running. We are hitting our stride. We are very creative and are being recognised worldwide for that.”

Mr O’Sullivan — who also lives in Kinsale with his family — said that “we will keep investing in R&D here for a number of years. We have barely tapped the surface of the $20m made available.”

Mr O’Sullivan said he is enjoying being a part of RTÉ show Dragons Den. “It is good fun. I enjoy being involved in entrepreneurship. The programme is very educational.”

He added: “I have been asked for my autograph in restaurants in Kinsale and Dublin, which has been quite a shock.”

Mr O’Sullivan has established several other technology companies, including Mapinfo a $200m software and services business headquartered in New York.