ClassCover expands into Irish market with €3M investment and 20 new jobs

ClassCover, a leading Australian-based substitute teacher booking platform, has announced its expansion into the Irish market with a €3M investment and 20 jobs over the next three years. This funding will support local hiring, boost awareness among the company’s client base and help tailor the platform for Irish audiences.

With significant plans for growth, ClassCover will expand its Irish team, hiring for new roles across sales, marketing, partnerships and customer support. Alongside this on-the-ground investment, the company has set its sights on a significant share of the Irish market, aiming to onboard 2,000 schools over the next three years, representing almost 50% of the country’s total.

ClassCover, headquartered in Sydney, was co-founded in 2011 by Ben Grozier to enable principals to book substitute teachers and SNAs through its real-time booking platform.

Designed to address teacher shortages and the disruption they cause, the platform allows schools to instantly view teachers’ availability and confirm bookings in minutes.

Over the last number of years, the platform has gained significant momentum across Australia with more than 5,000 schools and 200,000 teachers and SNAs signing up. Having secured several state contracts, ClassCover has facilitated over 500,000 bookings on the platform per year in Australia alone and following the addition of 1,300 new schools earlier this year, is projected to reach 650,000 annual bookings over the next 12 months. With its expansion into the Irish market, the company is now looking to replicate similar traction here.

Demand for this type of solution has risen across the Irish market. Currently, most schools rely on manual phone calls or social media messaging apps to secure cover, but this approach has proven to be both inefficient and risky. These group chats have historically been unsafe, exposing thousands of mobile numbers and leaving users vulnerable to scam links. ClassCover’s platform was built by an experienced team of engineers to ensure data is secure, safe and compliant with EU data laws.

Set to launch later this month with a pilot programme taking place across Dublin, the platform has been redesigned for the Irish market, with on-the-ground research, including extensive discussions with Irish educators, helping to shape the solution. The company has already begun building an Irish team, most of whom have a background in education as teachers or principals.

Commenting on the investment, Ben Grozier, CEO, ClassCover, said: “This expansion into the Irish market is a natural fit, with Ireland and Australia sharing a deep, historic bond. Through our extensive network of educators, we’ve heard first-hand about the challenges schools in Ireland are facing in finding substitute teachers – a challenge Australia knows all too well.

“While this platform won’t fix the teacher supply crisis on its own, it will ensure that every sub and SNA who is available and ready to work can actually be found by the schools that need them. We’ve spent over a decade perfecting this model and it’s clear the Irish market is ready for it. Bringing ClassCover to Ireland marks a major milestone for our company as we expand our international footprint and build our presence in a country widely regarded as having one of Europe’s best education systems.”

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