Outsourcing company Voxpro eyes flotation after expansion

Global business outsourcing company Voxpro is planning to open three bases across Europe and North America as part of a global expansion that it hopes will lay the foundations for a successful flotation of the business.

The Cork-based company, founded by husband and wife team Dan and Linda Kiely, has plans to scale its operations globally over the coming years as it keeps pace with the demands of its extensive client list.

As part of its planned three-year expansion, Voxpro will open a sales and marketing hub in New York in the coming months.

It has also narrowed its search for a second north American operations site down to three potential locations.

The company has an existing centre in Folsom, California, where it continues to add to its workforce serving clients mainly located in San Francisco’s Bay Area.

Its second North American base will be based on the east coast of the US, says Mr Kiely, the company’s chief executive.

“We are eyeing a big footprint in north America,” he said.

“By the end of the second quarter we hope to have a new site in north America. We have it narrowed down to a shortlist of three now and we hope to have another site in Europe operational by Q3.”

While its New York sales and marketing office will have only a handful of staff, it is envisaged the planned east coast centre will create hundreds of roles.

Mr Kiely also identified the need for Voxpro to develop in Asia and Pacific.

A Singapore office is planned for 2017.

The company’s need in Asia and Pacific is not borne out of an extensive client list in that part of the world but the growing demands of major US multinationals in need of global coverage.

Voxpro counts many of the world’s highest profile tech companies including Google, Airbnb, Stripe and Nest among its clients.

If all goes to plan — something Mr Kiely warns is impossible to be sure of — a flotation could be on the cards in 2019.

Certain targets such as reaching revenues of $100m (€89m) a year will need to be met in the intervening period for its IPO dream to become a reality.

Helping to drive Voxpro’s growth will be PayPal vice-president of global operations in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Louise Phelan, who joined its board of directors last week, along with Voxpro managing director Aidan O’Shea.

Ms Phelan’s huge experience of scaling businesses across Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe will be key to expanding globally, according to Mr Kiely.

The company’s co-founder added said it is ahead of target in recruiting the 400 staff for its Cork and Dublin offices announced in 2015.