An Irish education technology company is moving to formalise how artificial intelligence skills are taught, measured and certified, following a €1 million investment round led by Oyster Capital with support from Enterprise Ireland.

Founded by Limerick-born entrepreneur Ian Dodson, AICertified is targeting a gap in the education and professional training market by developing what it describes as a single, trusted global standard for AI competence.

The ambition echoes Dodson’s earlier success with the Digital Marketing Institute, which built a widely recognised benchmark for digital marketing education and produced more than 75,000 graduates worldwide before being acquired by BPP Education Group in 2023.

AICertified is positioning its offering as a commercial education platform that aligns employer needs with measurable learning outcomes, at a time when demand for AI skills is rising across sectors but training quality and credibility remain inconsistent.

“This is about more than a course or a certificate – it’s about creating a measurable and trusted framework for competence in AI. The AI training market today is fragmented and fundamentally unreliable. No one has yet defined what it is to be AI certified, nor the progression route to get there,” Dodson said.

The €1 million funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team and scale AICertified’s learning platform ahead of its first course launch in February 2026. The company currently employs eight people and expects to grow to 15 within its first year of operations.

Oyster Capital, founded by Irish technology entrepreneur Bill McCabe, led the round. The firm focuses on high-growth, globally scalable companies across EdTech, software, healthcare and enterprise technology.

See more on how this new platform plans to shape AI education.