Galway-founded payback company continues worldwide expansion

A Galway-based global software and payments giant has announced 100 new jobs in Ireland – with a substantial proportion of them destined for their local headquarters.

Planet – founded in Galway in 1985 by Aidan Daly, Jim Ward and Gerry Barry as Cashback Ltd – will create 500 new jobs globally, over the coming months, with 100 of these based in Ireland.

The new jobs in Ireland will be a blend of hybrid and remote working roles across a variety of sectors including Product Development, Technology and Finance and will be located in Galway, Kilkenny and Dublin.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Minister Hildegarde Naughton attended the jobs announcement on Monday.

“This announcement is great news for the city of Galway, where Planet is headquartered. We expect these 100 new jobs will have a great impact on the city and further excel Galway’s reputation as a great city for business and innovation,” she said.

The original founders worked together at NUIG, a connection which fostered a spirit of innovation and development that facilitated the group’s development.

Their headquarters in Galway, from where the business was established in 1985, serves as the base of many core group functions including Product Development and Testing, Quality Assurance, Legal, HR, Treasury, Finance and Marketing Functions.

It was initially created to help international shoppers get their money back when they shopped overseas, simplifying a previously complex payment process and becoming the first company to introduce the innovative Double Sale System that completely eliminates back office admin for merchants.

The 90s saw the business expand throughout Europe, launching in France and then opening operations in the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland.

This expansion continued at an impressive rate across Europe and Globally for the next three decades, acquiring several other payment services along the way, eventually unified under the name Planet in 2018.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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