The Texthelp Group awarded The Queen’s Award For Enterprise
The Belfast-based technology company has been acknowledged for achieving international scale with its suite of education and workplace products as it reaches 40 million users
Thursday 29 April, Belfast, UK: The Texthelp Group, the global leader in literacy, numeracy and accessibility technology, has been recognised with The Queen’s Award For Enterprise in the International Trade category.
Her Majesty The Queen approved the Prime Minister’s recommendation that The Texthelp Group should receive the accolade, recognising the company’s contribution to technology innovations that help people worldwide with literacy and communication. Its tools are used by over 40 million students and adults worldwide with dyslexia, learning difficulties or those learning or working in a second language. Showcasing growth over the past year, there has been a staggering 158% increase in usage of its flagship Read&Write product.
Texthelp was founded in 1996 by Martin McKay and is headquartered in Antrim, Northern Ireland. Martin was the beneficiary of a Prince's Trust grant that helped him to start the business in 1995 and it’s fitting to now be selected as one of the UK companies to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
The group employs over 240 staff across locations in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Norway, USA and Australia. Texthelp has been at the forefront of assistive technology over the last three decades and has been recognised with this prestigious accolade for its continued international business growth over the years, which has led to 70% of revenue coming from outside of the UK this year.
This commitment to overseas expansion was most recently demonstrated in February 2021 when Texthelp acquired the Norway-based Lingit Group, including Lingit, LexAble and Claro Software. Through this acquisition, the business has added Lingdys, Textpilot, ClaroRead, Global Autocorrect and Global Tasks to its product suite and can offer a wider and improved range of assistive technologies to their customers in the UK, North America and the Asia-Pacific region, while expanding its reach in Northern Europe.
Martin McKay, CEO and founder of The Texthelp Group, says: “We are over the moon to receive this prestigious award. Our products are helping students and employees, across the public and private sector, to continue learning and working. We now support more than 40 million users in 150 countries. It's our goal to help support 100 million people across the globe to understand and be understood through technology.
“Nearly three decades on from when I originally founded the business and secured the Prince's Trust grant, I am particularly proud to have grown the business, supporting the local economy and creating jobs in Northern Ireland and beyond.”
Texthelp’s products enable bespoke learning and support in the classroom or workplace environment, increasing engagement, understanding, confidence and outcomes. Other products in the Texthelp suite include Read&Write, EquatiO, ReachDeck, Fluency Tutor, Speechstream, and WriQ, which was launched in October last year.
About Texthelp®
Founded in 1996, the Texthelp Group is a global technology company helping people all over the world to understand and to be understood. It has led the way in creating innovative technology for the education and the workplace sectors for the last three decades.
Texthelp believes in a world where difference, disability or language are no longer barriers. It is focused on helping all people learn, understand and communicate through the use of digital education and accessibility tools.
With over 40 million users worldwide, the Texthelp suite of products include Read&Write, EquatiO®, WriQ®, Fluency Tutor®, ReachDeck® and Speechstream® which work alongside existing platforms such as Microsoft Office and G-suite, enabling them to be integrated quickly into any classroom or workplace with ease.
In February 2021, Texthelp acquired the Lingit Group, including Lingit, LexAble and Claro Software. Together these companies offer a range of Assistive Technology tools including Lingdys, Textpilot, ClaroRead, Global Autocorrect and Global Tasks. By combining capabilities and knowledge across the group, Texthelp can now provide a whole suite of literacy and numeracy support to a greater number of end users across more geographies.
The Texthelp Group currently employs over 240 staff across locations in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Norway, USA and Australia.
In education, the Texthelp Group works closely with Google and Microsoft, as well as many of the world’s major educational publishers to provide literacy, numeracy and accessibility support solutions to classrooms and remote learning environments worldwide.
In the workplace, Texthelp’s inclusion and accessibility tools are used by blue-chip companies, government and public services departments and the third sector globally.
Texthelp is backed by Five Arrows, the private equity arm of Rothschild Group
© Texthelp Ltd 2021 www.texthelp.com
About The Queen’s Award For Enterprise
For further information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/queens-awards-for-enterprise