Finance Minister Mervyn Storey MLA today announced a £1.4million investment by Sixty-5 Technologies, which aims to create 23 new jobs with the support of Invest Northern Ireland.

Belfast based agricultural software business, Sixty-5, is a spin out from Progressive Agriculture Solutions and a graduate of Invest NI's Propel programme.

Making the announcement during a visit to the company, Mervyn Storey said: “The creation of 23 high quality jobs is excellent news for the local economy and will generate an additional £792,000 in annual salaries. The total investment of £1.4million is a significant investment by this small company and a real commitment to furthering its growth.”

In a climate of increasing pressures on the agricultural industry, the company has developed a cloud based platform which uses GPS to help farmers boost their productivity and optimise efficiency.

The Minister continued “Sixty-5's approach to innovation to address a gap in the market will ensure the company is continuing Northern Ireland's rich heritage of agricultural innovation. It also represents an investment in satellite enabled technology which is an area that can create significant business opportunities.”

The investment is being supported by Invest NI, which has offered the company £180,000 of assistance towards 23 new jobs and marketing assistance.

John Arrell, CEO of Sixty-5 Technologies said: “Over the next three years, we are aiming to substantially increase both turnover and export sales through developing new products and services and growing our technological capability.

“Our long term goal is to accelerate sustainable agriculture through the provision of GPS, to ensure the farming industry optimises the best use of its land. Essentially, farmers need technology to be easy to use and we believe that the data should be there to support them for greater farm profitability.

“Our new technology has already been very well received in the industry and with Invest NI's support we aim to strengthen our team and bring our ideas to the global marketplace to generate substantial export sales.”