Firefly: Education platform creating 52 jobs in Belfast

Firefly is an online platform helps schools and teachers to deliver lessons remotely.

A digital education platform is investing in Northern Ireland for the first time, creating 52 jobs.

Firefly works in a number of countries including Australia where the online platform helps schools and teachers deliver lessons remotely.

Invest Northern Ireland has offered £520,000 of support. Nine of the jobs are already in place.

Co-founder Simon Hay told BBC News NI they are busier than ever due to Covid-19.

"We are working with schools around the world and we are currently seeing about 13 times our normal usage," he said.

"We've needed to grow the team for a while and we were looking for a location to do that where we could access a wider pool of talent and establish a new hub.

"We hope that it's going to be a great place to attract and retain team members and we hope that the lower living costs will mean people can have a better quality of life," he said.

Simon Hay said he hopes NI will be a good place to attract and retain team members

The jobs available include developers, researchers, designers and mobile app developers.

Economy Minister Diane Dodds has welcomed the announcement.

"School closures have meant many education establishments have had to look to new ways to help teachers and parents home-school children," she said.

The company is offering very attractive salaries, and will contribute additional salaries of more than £2.3m per annum into the economy when all jobs are in place," she said.

Firefly has said it hopes to continue to expand in Belfast.