PRESS RELEASE

EmpowerTheUser (ETU) closes €500k funding round EmpowerTheUser (ETU) Ltd, a leading provider of Software as a Service RolePlay Simulation technology for the training and assessment industries, has announced today that it has secured over €500k in funding from Leaf Investments, Enterprise Ireland and private investors to expand its sales operations in Europe. The company will shortly begin recruitment for new highly skilled positions in Sales, Marketing and Product Development, as it rolls out its development plans for 2013.
ETU’s award-winning software allows organisations to realize major efficiencies in the delivery of behavioural skills training and assessment.

“I’m delighted to have the backing of Leaf investments as they know the training and development industry, they recognise the achievements of ETU to date and they see the growth potential in exporting our products to the global assessment and training markets” says Dr Declan Dagger (CEO & Founder of ETU). Dagger goes on to explain that “Ireland is the perfect place to launch ETU. With a strong heritage in R&D innovation coupled with great access to Europe and beyond, the future is exciting.”
Hugh O’Driscoll of Leaf Investments commented: “We are very excited to make this investment to accelerate ETU’s commercialisation across Europe. As a new venture, we are specifically focused on backing internationally scalable technology businesses bringing innovative solutions to education and learning markets and ETU fits perfectly within that remit. We have been very impressed with the progress Declan and the team have achieved since spinning the business out of Trinity and we look forward to supporting ETU’s continued growth and expansion”.
Welcoming the announcement, Tom Cusack, Manager, HPSU-Communications & Digital Content, Enterprise Ireland said; “This is a very innovative and exciting company led by a strong management team. This investment round will now position them to extend their export market reach. ETU is an example of the entrepreneurial and ambitious companies that Enterprise Ireland is supporting to grow their export business and create jobs. This announcement is one that we greatly welcome and we look forward to working closely with ETU in further developing their business”.

ETU’s Talent Development Platform is the worlds first commercial RolePlay Simulation Platform which allows anyone with training or assessment experience to rapidly design, develop and deliver adaptive video-based RolePlay Simulations without any need for programming skills. The Simulations empower organisations with unprecedented abilities to remotely measure, develop and monitor the skills and behaviours of individuals, teams and entire organisations to improve performance and develop talent. ENDS

For further information contact: Declan Dagger, +353864076201, Declan.Dagger@EmpowerTheUser.com

Company Information EmpowerTheUser (ETU) Ltd EmpowerTheUser (ETU) Ltd spun out of Trinity College Dublin in late 2010. Originating from the Department of Computer Science’s Knowledge and Data Engineering Group and the Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, ETU draws on a strong heritage in applied R&D for learning and development. ETU has secured high-profile clients in the US and Europe and is set to grow rapidly over the next 5 years. See www.etu.ie for more details. Leaf Investments Leaf Investments, through its Learning Accelerator Fund, is an early stage investor in learning technologies, backed by the Folens publishing group. Founded on the principle that emerging technologies present opportunities to create new learning solutions, Leaf is specifically targeting internationally scaleable disruptive technologies across the learning and education spectrum. Leaf is building on Folens’ pedigree of investment in learning businesses by bringing capital and expertise together under a single, discrete investment vehicle. See www.leafinvestments.net for more details.