Kargo adds 25 jobs in new European R&D hub for Waterford

The company first entered the Irish market through the $64m acquisition of Waterford adtech firm StitcherAds in 2021. StitcherAds was founded in 2009 by Declan Kennedy, Conor Ryan and Peter Elger and was previously called Betapond.

The new jobs will be in data science and software engineering.

Founded by Bostonian Harry Kargman and headquartered in New York, Kargo employs around 500 people across its 11 global sites. The Irish wing employed around 120 people at the time of the acquisition in 2021.

Kargo creates “advertising and content experiences” across mobile, social media, video, and connected TVs.

The new R&D hub will “seek to develop proprietary IP in applied machine learning and process automation in the open web cookieless digital advertising industry”, the company says.

For this, it is recruiting in data science, engineering, analytics and product management.

“This investment from Kargo is a big vote of confidence in the existing team and the south-east region,” said Mick O’ Brien, senior director of engineering at Kargo in Waterford. “With a vibrant cluster of tech companies, a highly skilled talent pool and excellent programmes available from SETU [South East Technological University], Kargo has recognised the fantastic opportunity available here and is making a key investment for the future.”

The announcement was also welcomed by the IDA, which is supporting the project, and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney.

“Waterford has demonstrated the skills and has built a reputation for talent in our community, and we are happy to be investing in key resources for continued expansion,” said Kartal Goksel, chief technology officer of the company.

“Kargo is thrilled to be branching out into new technologies and our focus on R&D efforts is a top priority that will help meet the challenges ahead.”