VR Education Holdings plc, (VR Education) a virtual reality (VR) software and technology company, announced that it has today raised €6.75 million, following its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE). It commences trading on the ISE’s Enterprise Securities Market (ESM) with a market capitalisation of €22.2m.
VR Education is dedicated to transforming the delivery methods of education and corporate training by utilising VR technologies to deliver immersive virtual experiences. The company’s core focus is the development and commercialisation of ENGAGE, its online virtual social learning and presentation platform for creating, sharing and delivering proprietary and third party VR content for educational and corporate training purposes.
Listing on an exchange is an option for SMEs with a great business, ambition and plans to succeed” said Deirdre Somers, ISE, CEO.
ISE Chief Executive Deirdre Somers said:
This is a great day for VR Education Holdings plc. It is fantastic to see VR Education Holdings, an ambitious Irish tech company at a relatively early stage of their development, utilise the ESM to access international pools of capital to deliver the finance they need to fuel their growth.
VR Education’s IPO success demonstrates that listing on an exchange is an option for SMEs with a great business, ambition and plans to scale.
We would like to wish VR Education’s management, staff and shareholders every success and we look forward to building a strong relationship with them as they start this exciting journey as a public company.
Listing on the ESM is the perfect fit for VR Education’s vision and ambition” commented David Whelan, CEO, VR Education Holdings plc
VR Education Holdings plc CEO, David Whelan said:
Listing on the ESM is the perfect fit for VR Education’s vision and ambition. Our listing has given us the platform to raise the international capital we need to scale our business both today and in the future.
We are delighted with the success of our IPO, which was enabled by combining the support of the Irish ecosystem with access to international capital. Being a plc delivers a long term financing solution for our business, it also enables us to build our brand and profile and to diversify our shareholder base internationally. We are looking forward to the next chapter of life as a plc.
Enterprise Ireland CEO, Julie Sinnamon said:
It is great to see VR Education Holdings achieve this listing on the Irish Stock Exchange. It is a testament to the innovative technology and scaling ambition of this Irish company. Our ambition is to help more Irish companies access capital markets to build scale in their business. VR Education is an excellent role model for others to emulate in raising international funds through IPO. Enterprise Ireland is delighted to work with the Irish Stock Exchange, through its support of the #IPOready programme, which helps to prepare Irish businesses for the IPO journey.
Orla O’Gorman, Head of Equity at the ISE, added:
A stock market listing on the Irish Stock Exchange brings a number of benefits to high growth, ambitious companies such as VR Education as it give them access to a permanent source of capital to scale their business. A stock market listing also delivers liquidity for founders and shareholders in addition to increased profile and branding for the company. The ability to use publicly traded shares as a consideration for funding M&A and to attract, retain and reward staff are other important benefits of being a publicly quoted company.
The Irish Stock Exchange has a number of initiatives to support scaling Irish companies who are interested in accessing capital markets, including our successful #IPOready programme.