The 100 hottest Irish start-ups

Despite the turbulence in tech, the digital economy is firmly embedded in our future and Ireland is home to start-ups that run the gamut from biotech to advanced electronics, fintech and e-commerce, as our list shows.

Not all of the start-ups here are tech, however, some such as Foxes Bow make whiskey while others such as SISU Clinic are involved in cosmetic medicine or like Gym+Coffee are in athleisure and fashion.

Honourable mentions go to Irish-led start-up businesses founded outside of Ireland such as Stripe led by the Collison Brothers from Nenagh, which employs 1,000 in Dublin, has just raised $6.5bn and was founded in San Francisco, and Horizon Quantum Computing led by Irishman Joe Fitzsimons, which has established a new base in Dublin and which recently raise $18.1m.

Here are the ones to watch in 2023:

&Open

 Ciara Flood, Jonathan Legge and Mark Legge founded &Open in 2017 to fix corporate gifting by delivering better gifts at scale. Active in 120+ countries, &Open helps brands curate high-quality, design-led, and responsibly-sourced gifts for customers around the world.  &Open has already grown its team to more than 90 people with employees across Ireland, the UK, and the US, and plans to open an office in New York City in the next year. The launch of On-Demand in 2022 not only enables &Open to extend its offering to more companies around the world, but also provides a platform for emerging brands, local vendors, causes, and subscription services to reach new audiences. A $26m Series A round last June brings &Open’s total capital raised to $33.2m.

Altra

Growing up and working in a family-owned nursing home business inspired Adam Keane to create Altra, a resident experience and family engagement tool that helps care teams, residents and families stay connected. The platform is live in 200 homes across Ireland and the UK and the company, which has bootstrapped itself to profitability, is expanding across Europe, starting in France and Belgium this year after winning a significant contract with one of the largest European nursing home groups. “We help care homes improve wellbeing of residents in senior care. Studies show that seniors are physically and mentally healthier when they maintain social connection and foster relationships,” Keane told ThinkBusiness.

Amply Discovery

Queen’s University Belfast spin-out Amply Discovery was established in 2021 to commercialise a drug discovery platform developed by the university’s School of Biological Science. The business is focused on the global health threat of antimicrobial resistance and is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to discover new anti-infective products

APC

Established in 2011 by CEO Dr Mark Barrett and CTO Professor Brian Glennon, APC combines its platform technology, ACHIEVE, BioACHIEVE and iACHIEVE, and its globally recognised research team, to accelerate how drug and vaccine manufacturing processes are researched and developed. The company last year revealed plans to invest €25m and will create 120 new jobs through the formation of a ‘Global Centre of Excellence for Vaccine and Advanced Therapeutic Research and Manufacturing.’

Akkure

NovaUCD-based Akkure Genomics, which is targeting the €60bn global clinical trials market, was founded in 2019 by Professor Oran Rigby, a consultant in intensive care medicine and surgery, and Dr Amy Hollingworth, a respiratory and lung transplant specialist. The company has developed a next-generation clinical trials platform, using natural language processing and artificial intelligence (AI), to provide members of the general public with a means of leveraging their personal medical data to match and access clinical trials relevant to their condition. Akkure is developing the infrastructure to allow patients partake in precision medical trials leveraging their combined genetic and clinical data for powerful personalised trial participation and therapeutics.

ApisProtect

Agtech business ApisProtect is working on revolutionising beekeeping by working with beekeepers around the world to develop innovative technology to remotely monitor honey bees. Dr Fiona Edwards Murphy, CEO and co-founder of ApisProtect is among the most widely published authors on Internet of Things and honeybees. ApisProtect provides real-time hive monitoring powered by intelligent sensor technology. The platform gives beekeepers actionable insights and alerts to help prevent losses and increase colony productivity.

Aurigen

Galway medtech AuriGen aims to provide governments and private healthcare insurers with an alternative to the existing expensive multi-procedure therapies which are currently required to treat challenging heart failure/arrhythmia patients. To address these challenges, AuriGen Medical has created the first device to integrate stroke prevention, heart failure monitoring and arrhythmia management in a single 30-minute day case procedure. AuriGen’s devices will include smart sensors which detect changes in the heart in real-time, resulting in earlier and more accurate data. This patient data is transferred live from their handheld receiver at home to the secure cloud which is instantly accessible by their doctor, helping them to intervene faster, preventing hospitalisations, while improving quality and length of life. Founded by Dr John Thompson, Siora MacClean and Tony O’Halloran, the business recently launched a €750,000 crowdfunding campaign and also recently raised €1.75m from institutional investors in Ireland, bringing total funding to over €15m.

BeyondBMI

Beyondbmi has developed a 12-month weight management programme, designed by the leading medical weight management experts, to enable clients achieve long-term weight loss and health gain in a sustainable way. A UCD School of Medicine spin-out Beyondbmi was founded by medical doctor Dr Harriet Treacy and product designer Peter Lumley with support from senior team members including world-leading obesity scientists and clinicians, Professor Carel Le Roux and Dr Werd Al-Najim, UCD School of Medicine and UCD Conway Institute and Professor Alex Miras, Ulster University. Beyondbmi uses the latest scientific research and therapies to create individually tailored treatment plans which includes detailed assessments, medication, dietary plan, and behavioural health adjustments. The business recently raised €525,000 in a pre-seed funding round.

Bluedrop Medical

Bluedrop has developed a device which diabetic patients use to scan their feet at home. This scan is then uploaded to the cloud and checked by AI to see if they are at risk of developing a diabetic foot ulcer, which if left unchecked can lead to amputation. Amputations caused by this have increased in Ireland by 45% in the last decade. Bluedrop Medical was founded by Chris Murphy and Simon Kiersey in 2015 to reduce the rate of preventable amputations for people afflicted with diabetes. Across the US and Europe, more than 250,000 amputations associated with diabetes occur each year, resulting in healthcare costs of over €30bn. In 2021, 645 of those amputations took place in Ireland, an increase of 45% over the previous decade. The business recently raised €10.5m in a funding round that will enable it to create 25 new jobs.

BlockAngel

Block Angel’s payment gateway provides property owners with options on payment methods and payment arrangements in a quick and simple collection experience. This also greatly simplifies the payment collection and reconciliation process for property agents.

“This payment gateway experience is proven to increase payment acceptance by 10% which will have the effect of cutting service charge arrears by half. In Ireland approx. €60m of service charges go uncollected each year, the same figure in the UK is approx. £1.3bn and over $20bn each year in the US. Uncollected service charges cost those who do pay their service charges a 20% premium so it is in the interest of all to continually improve collections,” founder Andrew Farrell told ThinkBusiness recently.

Bounce Insights

Dublin start-up Bounce Insights is transforming market research as we know it, enabling researchers to get answers directly from their target market. The young Dublin company is moving the dial on market research, changing the narrative from “we think” to “we know” directly from the Bounce Insights dashboard. Bounce Insights was founded by five Trinity College Students (now graduates), from both business and computer science backgrounds who started working as a team back in January 2019.

Boundless

Dublin-founded Boundless provides remote working compliance services designed to remove barriers and allow teams to scale internationally. It does so by handling multi-country payroll and compliance with local tax and employment regulations. Founded by Dee Coakley, Emily Castles and Eamon Leonard in 2019, the business recently raised €2.5m in seed funding in an investment led by Ada Ventures and Fyrfly Venture Partners.

B-Secur

Belfast-based B-Secur has developed a world first software technique that uses an individual’s unique heartbeat pattern, known as electrocardiogram (ECG) in everyday technologies to securely identify, and provide health and wellness insights at the same time. The business, led by Alan Foreman, recently raised $12m in an investment round led by US-based First Capital Ventures and The Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Growth Fund NI, with other existing investors also participating.

Catagen

Belfast-based Catagen sells its patented emissions testing services to global automotive manufacturers and is approved by the UK Vehicle Certification Agency and Europe’s Applus IDIADA. The Queen’s University spinout was recently awarded UK funding as part of the Red Diesel Replacement Competition cafor the development of high-pressure hybrid pumping for hydrogen storage and dispensing, and a second award for the development of an e-fuel as a replacement for red diesel.

Chupi

Founded by Chupi Sweetman 10 years ago, the heirloom jewellery company is going from strength to strength and in recent weeks revealed it has secured €3.75m in new equity and debt funding to fuel its ambitious growth plans for Ireland and the UK. The group, which makes all of its products in Ireland with recycled, post-industrial gold, said the funds would be used to expand Chupi’s retail operation as well as its digital offering. This includes augmented and virtual reality systems used to assist customers with choice and sizing. It currently exports to 69 countries.

CitySwift

CitySwift specialises in helping local bus networks run more efficiently through the use of predictive analytics and big data. Founded by Brian O’Rourke and Alan Farrelly, CitySwift is a data analytics business on the move. Last year the business raised €5m in a Series A funding round led by Act Venture Capital. Founded in 2016, CitySwift is a homegrown Galway headquartered company with a rapidly expanding team of 65 employees building an international roadmap. A market leader working with all the leading UK operators and Public Sector Authorities, the business has consistently doubled recurring revenue over the last three years and is expanding globally into Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and South East Asia.

ClubZap

The founders of Clare-based ClubZap Declan Murphy and Aidan Quilligan have turned their passion for sport into a business and in doing so they have made social media and e-commerce effortless and less stressful for sports clubs around the world. The app is free to download for a basic version and subscriptions are charged based on the package and other capabilities that are selected. Additional capabilities include e-commerce, for example, and clubs can raise money through club shops selling merchandise or tickets for events. While ClubZap originally focused on the GAA and capitalising on its club network locally and overseas, the app is now being adopted in other sports as well including soccer, rugby, hockey and more.

Cotter Agritech

Last year 22 year-old University College Cork student Nick Cotter emerged as the overall winner at the 2022 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, beating off competition from 1,000 applicants from 40 countries. West Limerick native Cotter is the CEO and co-founder of Cotter Agritech, which specialises in targeted, selective treatment systems for sheep. He co-founded the business with his brother Jack. Cotter Agritech is dramatically reducing chemical use in agriculture via a patented hardware and software system that uses advanced algorithms to enable farmers to transition from blanket treatment with antiparasitic drugs to precise applications targeting only the animals that actually need treatment. “This reduces antiparasitic drug use by up to 50%, reducing costs, preventing drug resistance, and reducing negative biodiversity impacts,” Nick Cotter told ThinkBusiness.

CropBiome

CropBiome is using plant microbes to treat crop seeds, which will produce healthier plants and reduce the amount fertiliser required. CropBiome, a joint spin-out from UCD and TCD, is planning to aggressively tackle Europe’s grain market, which is experiencing supply chain issues as a result of the war in Ukraine. A combination of field and greenhouse crop trials have shown that the seed dressings can improve crops’ performance in drought conditions and when fertiliser use is reduced. Field plot trials and product application development will enable CropBiome to go to market in mid-2025, with revenues expected to reach €5M by the end of that year. The business recently raised €1.3m in funding as part of an oversubscribed funding round from Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) Singapore and HBAN Bloom Equity syndicates.

CropSafe

Co-founded by John McElhone and Micheál McLaughlin, CropSafe is an agtech platform aimed at revolutionising the future of farming. Last year it opened its US headquarters in Los Angeles after raising more than $3m in seed funding. CropSafe allows farmers to create alerts and enable real-time modules from their marketplace to monitor the condition, health, and weather on their farm, which is monitored remotely through CropSafe’s network of global weather stations and orbital satellites. CropSafe helps growers take action on data, rather than leaving the complex job of interpretation to farmers.

Deciphex

Deciphex offers a range of services for clinical and research pathology, including its Patholytix platform for research pathology. Its Diagnexia clinical service, provides remote subspecialty pathology services. Led by CEO Donal O’Shea, the company’s solutions have already been adopted by leading research organizations and pharmaceutical companies, and its products are trusted by customers around the world. Deciphex recently raised €3.9m, bringing its full Series B funding round tally to €14.4m

DermView

DermView’s technology enables patients, hospitals and clinics to receive rapid, accurate diagnosis from leading Mohs surgeons, consultant dermatologists and plastic surgeons. It provides Ireland’s fastest route to access a Consultant Dermatologist diagnosis. The business last year raised €1.9m in a three-times oversubscribed funding round. Late last year the business opened an advanced €8m clinic in Lucan, Co Dublin. Dermview has also revealed ambitious plans for Northern Ireland and the UK in partnership with the NHS.

Doddl

Doddl is a digital mortgage broker. Since its launch in July 2019, Doddl.ie has assisted customers with over €1bn in residential mortgage applications, rapidly becoming a leader in the Irish mortgage market with over 40 staff. Doddl.ie is led by mortgage expert Martina Hennessy, Gráinne Forbes and a senior management team of experienced banking, property and technology professionals. Doddl recently secured a seven-figure investment to accelerate the growth of the three-year-old brand.

Epicapture

Improving the care of cancer patients through the development of accurate, non-invasive, urine diagnostic tests to identify aggressive cancers like Prostate cancer. Globally, 1.4 million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and 375,000 die from the disease each year. Despite a lack of accuracy, it is estimated that 25m PSA tests are carried out in the US every year. Founder Antoinette Perry’s ambition is that EpiCapture-prostate will run alongside the PSA test in the US and EU, where prostate cancer incidence metrics suggest the market opportunity is significantly larger than the US. In November the business won €10,000 in the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn competition for best venture stemming from a university.

Eppione

Irish employee benefits player Eppione already empowers 1,000 businesses worldwide. The Dublin-headquartered provider of personalised and localised employee benefits technology Eppione recently raised €2.5m in additional investment in a round led by Delta Partners. As a regulated insurance brokerage, Eppione’s platform helps to boost employees’ engagement with their benefits package, while enabling employers to gain deep insights into uptake and drive informed decisions when changing their offerings. The People Analytics module creates automated reports into areas including gender pay gaps, workforce diversity and absence trends across the business. Founded in 2016 by three friends and benefits enthusiasts – David Kindlon, Neil Fallon and Ernest Legrand – today Eppione has a world-class team of experts in benefits, insurance and financial advice, helping businesses navigate the complex options available to them.

Equal1

With research and development teams in NovaUCD, Dublin, and Silicon Valley, Equal1 was founded by Dr Dirk Leipold, Mike Asker and Professor R. Bogdan Staszewski. It is a University College Dublin spin-out from the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The company’s quantum technology is particularly suited to quantum artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Equal1 is addressing a major challenge for the quantum computing industry, to scale the number of qubits so that a quantum computer can tackle useful, real-world problems.

Equals

Founded by former Intercom employees Bobby Pinero and Ben McRedmond, Equals is focused on building a spreadsheet technology fit to rival Excel. Equals combines the spreadsheet with built-in connections to databases and other data sources, bringing in live data and team workflows.

EquiTrace 

EquiTrace was founded by internationally renowned veterinary specialists whose mission was to make the capture and recording of data a pain-free and time-saving process. Led by Jennifer Corley, EquiTrace is an animal health company designed to bring horse healthcare into the digital age. Equitrace works with any scanner, any chip and any phone and is the answer to fundamental problems around traceability, identify, welfare and medication for the equine industry.

Evervault

Founded by 21-year-old entrepreneur Shane Curran, Evervault is creating a data privacy toolkit that developers can “bake in” into new products. The company last year raised $16m in a Series A round led by Index Ventures. In 2019 when Curran was just 19, the company raised $3.2m in seed funding in a round led by venerable Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital along with Kleiner Perkins, Frontline, and SV angel along with some unnamed tech innovators and investors.

Fire1

Fire1 is a medtech business focused on developing a remote monitoring solution for heart failure patients. Led by CEO Conor Hanley, the business specialises in connected medical device solutions and has an experienced medical devices team that works with clinicians and patients to reduce the impact of heart failure. In recent months Fire1 closed a $25m funding round.

Flipdish

Founded by brothers Conor and James McCarthy in 2015, Flipdish allows hospitality businesses to deliver seamless consumer digital experiences which drive business growth. The unicorn provides technology that powers QR code order & pay at table, online ordering for collection & delivery, self-service kiosks, customer loyalty, and digital marketing. A recent $100m round led by Asian investor Tencent catapulted Flipdish’s valuation to more than $1bn and follows a $48.5m investment led by Tiger Global Management in February. Flipdish has seen rapid revenue growth across multiple markets in 2021, fuelled by restaurant owners bringing their online ordering capability in house, rather than relying on a food delivery marketplace, the rapid adoption of their on-premise solutions like QR Code Order & Pay, and the growth of exciting new verticals like dark kitchens.

Frankli

Sligo-headquartered tech company Frankli has built a digital performance and engagement management system for employees and their managers. The Frankli platform enables companies to conduct end-to end performance management, with a suite of software tools that save clients both time and money. Founded by Noel Dykes, Frankli’s technology enables employees to report and give unfiltered feedback on their own performance, achievements and goal setting. In turn, managers can schedule performance reviews, run surveys around wellbeing and engagement and share analytics and data around how individuals and teams – and the company as a whole – are performing. The business recently announced plans to create 20 new jobs in Sligo over the next two years after closing a €725,000 pre-seed funding round and commencing a new €2m seed round.

Fresco

Dublin business Fresco previously known as Drop is cooking up a storm. Founded by Jonny McCauley, Ben Harris and Tim Redfern, Fresco connects any compatible appliance–across brands–so that cooks can focus on preparing meals. The company has adopted the “connects with Fresco” brand to certify appliances that can be controlled from smartphones, tablets, smart speakers, and smart home assistants. Consumers can use the Fresco app to guide their cooking to prepare better and more creative meals. Last year Fresco raised $20m in a funding round led by three international kitchen appliance brands, including Vorkerk, Instant Brands and a third unnamed backer. The Fresco app is live in 141 countries worldwide and the number of appliances connected by Fresco currently stands at more than 17m.

FoodMarble

Dublin-based FoodMarble has developed a small but powerful breath test device that together with a smartphone app helps you figure out what food is best for you. FoodMarble recently revealed its second-generation device AIRE 2. Using the device, anyone suffering from ongoing digestive issues such as SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) and IBS can use this pocket-size device at home to measure and monitor their digestion in real time by measuring both hydrogen and methane levels to help better manage their digestive health.

Foxes Bow

Created by Limerick natives Alice Carroll and Tony Foote, Foxes Bow Whiskey is a blended Irish whiskey aged in Bourbon barrels and finished in Oloroso and Rye casks. The inclusion of rye casks in the whiskey’s finish lends a floral bouquet to the whiskey’s nose, while providing an interesting lingering spice to the palette. Beginning with a burst of fruity sherry flavours, followed by a wave of spice and perfectly finished with a lingering velvety vanilla sweetness. In June the business surpassed €514,000 in a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. Bottles of Foxes Bow will soon grace stores in America after the young firm signed on with MHW as its importer in the US and with Green Light Distributors in Texas. The deals come just as grocery giant Tesco has agreed to stock the nascent whiskey brand in 80 stores across Ireland.

Galvia

Formerly known as Chatspace, Galvia is a a decision intelligence platform that supports organisations to make better decisions through their data. The Galway business since 2017 has worked with some of the largest companies in the world including Nestlé and Atos as well as introducing an AI powered student engagement platform for NUI Galway. “Project Management is integral to enterprise,” Galvia CEO and founder John Clancy told ThinkBusiness.ie. “The vast majority of work is and will continue to be project-based. Studies show that half of all projects underperform and one third fail and it is estimated that failed IT projects cost enterprises €250bn a year across the US and Europe. Management is often limited to the subjective optimism or pessimism of project managers which can result in unnecessary and costly micromanagement.”

Gigable

Dublin business Gigable provides gig workers with access to paid leave benefits. Founded by John Ryan, Gigable is a decentralised gig economy marketplace app, connecting businesses and drivers where they can post and accept gigs, communicate, invoice and be paid. While well-known gig economy apps provide drivers with ad-hoc work, Gigable’s key differentiator is that it provides its delivery driver community with full shifts, giving them more confidence to work independently. High profile customers include The Press Up Group, Bombay Pantry, Platform Pizza and Eddie Rockets.

Gym+Coffee

Gym+Coffee was started in 2017 by founders Niall Horgan, Karl Swaine and Diarmuid McSweeney as an online-only store selling hoodies and active wear. The popular athleisure brand has expanded its retail footprint in Ireland to 12 stores over the past three years and now employs more than 200 people. Last year the business raised €17m in funding. With this milestone investment, Gym+Coffee will be able to not only make strides in the UK market to develop relationships with sports organisations, athletes and health and wellness leaders, but also develop sustainability initiatives.

HealthBeacon

The HealthBeacon Injection Care Management System offers digitally enabled remote care monitoring and support service for patients managing self-injectable medications. The Dublin-headquartered company led by CEO Jim Joyce, last year announced 100 jobs after signing multi-million-dollar deals with US business Hamilton Beach Brands. The company also raised €6m in investment in a round led by Elkstone and Crow Rock Capital, bringing total investment to date to €25m. The company is hotly tipped to pursue an IPO on Euronext Dublin’s junior market.

HiiKER

Focused on empowering walkers and hikers, HiiKER has guided close to 400,000 hikers around the world. Founded in 2020 by Paul Finlay, and joined by co-founders Eoin Hamilton, Pete Britton, and Mark Finlay, these hiker-cum-hackers have combined their experience and passion to help guide more than 380,000 hikers around the world. HiiKER has become known as one of the best places to find hiking trails and excellent quality maps from world’s top mapping providers. Last year the business raised €500,000 in a seed investment round. HiiKER is now focused on growing its community and expanding its team before launching into the US market this year.

HoloToyz

Irish augmented reality technology start-up HoloToyz recently took home the coveted prize for its ‘outstandingly innovative’ Paw Patrol Tattoos and Stickers at Spielwarenmesse, the world’s biggest toy fair. The business was founded by Kate Scott and Declan Fahy. With the HoloToyz technology augmented reality tattoos and stickers come to life in a whole new way, providing kids with an interactive and immersive play experience like never before. Kids can watch as their favourite Paw Patrol characters come to life right before their eyes, thanks to the magic of augmented reality. For the first time, they can also place their favourite pups in their room and capture them on camera.

HRLocker

Lahinch, Co Clare-based HRLocker is a cloud-based HR software service that digitally transforms people management and recruitment. HRLocker’s SaaS solution makes the management of office-based, remote, and distributive workforces possible. HRLocker is a Deliberately Developmental Organisation (DDO) with adult development at the heart of everything they do. Led by founder and CEO Adam Coleman, HRLocker is planning to hire 50 new staff over the next two years after raising €2m in funding.

HR Duo

HR Duo, provides HR solutions to SMEs by integrating industry knowledge with the latest technology to deliver the estimated 80% of HR requirements that can be automated. This easy to use, low cost, and up-to-date ‘always on’ availability make it ideal for its target market of SMEs with 50-1,000 employees, acting as a bolt-on support to HR personnel, or indeed as a HR back-up for companies without a dedicated HR department. Led by CEO Jerome Forde, the business recently raised €4.5m in a Series A funding round.

Hubli

Events booking platform Hubli, formerly MeetingsBooker.com, makes it easy to discover and book meeting spaces online. In September 2021 Hubli relaunched with the first enterprise platform for in-person connections. Hubli combines meetings, workspaces and group stays in one platform allowing teams succeed from anywhere without sacrificing safety or control. Led by founder Ciaran Delaney, Hubli recently signed a multi-year partnership agreement with travel tech player Travelport that will see the platforms share content for meetings and accommodation.

ID-Pal

ID-Pal enables businesses to verify the identity of customers in real-time simply, securely and conveniently. The company was founded by James O’Toole and Colum Lyons and enables businesses to onboard and verify customers identity in seconds. Last year it raised €7m in a Series A round.

Imvizar

Imvizar creates immersive augmented reality experiences for tourism and entertainment. Founded by Michael Guerin in 2021, the business works with a number of tourist attractions, artists, influencers and universities, blending technology and storytelling. The business recently raised €800,000 in funding.

Inclusio

Led by Sandra Healy, Inclusio is the first digital platform to combine technology, behavioural science and psychology for organisations to use to help them drive improvements in Diversity and Inclusion within their workforce and deliver measurable improvements in their culture and business performance that should be realised as a direct result of these improvements in the employee lived experience. Inclusio spun-out as a private company in 2020. A recent €6.2m funding round has paved the way for the company to create 80 new jobs.

Inscribe

Ronan and Conor Burke co-founded Inscribe in San Francisco along with Oisin Moran and James Eggers after graduating from university in 2017. Inscribe is an automated document fraud detection system that allows businesses to instantly verify their customers when they request proof of income, proof of address, or proof of expense information. In 2020 they were listed in Forbes 30 under 30 list and in 2021 revealed plans to create 30 Dublin jobs after raising $10.5m. Last year Inscribe raised $25m in a Series B round that brought the total amount of funding raised by the business to $38m. The funding came on the heels of the company seeing a 3x year-over-year increase in recurring revenue and a 4x year-over-year increase in monthly usage.

InVera Medical

InVera, formerly Venari Medical, is the creator of a device which it claims is the world’s first medical device to utilise the body’s biological response to treat varicose veins and venous ulcers. The company, based in Oranmore in Galway, was founded by Sean Commins, Stephen Cox and Nigel Phelan and has its eyes on a global market. In the US alone the market for the treatment of chronic venous disease (CVD) is growing 15pc per annum and at current insurer reimbursement rates is valued at €500m.

Klearcom

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, Klearcom tests Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, used by businesses to manage incoming calls. Operating across four continents, the company’s global client base spans all industries and includes large multinational pharma, enterprise software, credit card and emergency services companies. Klearcom is currently on-track to grow to a team of 50 by year-end 2024, while revenues are expected to more than double this year. A recent €1.5m investment led by Furthr VC and involving Enterprise Ireland and Bloom Equity will support the team’s growth and the company plans to add to its technical, marketing and sales teams. Its technical team will be based in Waterford, while marketing and sales hires will be split between Waterford and the US.

Keelvar

UCC spin-out company Keelvar’s technology addresses inefficiencies in the global trillion-dollar procurement marketplace. Its sourcing technology – which leverages AI, data science and smart sourcing bots that run on autopilot – empowers customers to make crucial supply chain decisions quickly and confidently amidst ongoing change and disruption. Keelvar’s $24m Series B last year builds off a period of rapid growth and expansion for the company, which increased its headcount by 200% since the start of 2021 and grew ARR by 113% last year.

Kwayga

Kwayga is on a mission to match B2B buyers and suppliers in the food industry at a rate never seen before. Kwayga was established by co-founders Martin Fitzgerald and Mike McGrath in 2021 and is based in Cork, Ireland. The company’s matching algorithm analyses business’ data to match buyers with suppliers, providing active high-quality shortlists in minutes instead of months.  This is done on an ongoing basis, but also in the Kwayga Deal Centre where buyers post live requirements for suppliers to engage on. The subscription-based platform platform solves a range of challenges that B2B buyers and suppliers face on a daily basis when finding, verifying, connecting with and communicating in any language with new perfectly matched buyers or suppliers. It also fills the gap in in-house resources and skill sets that buyers and suppliers in the food and beverage industry lack when researching new business opportunities.

LegitFit

Founded in 2019 by Ryan O’ Neill, Gearoid Collins and Ian O’ Sullivan, LegitFit provides gyms, studios and independent fitness professionals with business management software that saves its customers up to €10,000 per year. Its core mission is to empower fitness entrepreneurs, to optimise their time so they can focus on what really matters to them – be that inside or outside the business. The platform manages the core aspects of running a fitness business including member management, scheduling, payments and communications. LegitFit recently closed a €1m seed funding round led by Delta Partners. Bank of Ireland is a cornerstone investor in Delta’s latest fund along with Enterprise Ireland, Fexco and others, which aims to invest in 30 of Ireland’s most innovative and exciting tech start-ups.

Marker Content

Marker Content wants to do for the written word what Shutterstock did for photography. Founded by Greta Dunne, the digital business provides businesses and website publishers with written articles via a subscription-based service in the same way that photography and graphics can be downloaded from players like Shutterstock or Getty Images.

Manna.Aero

Bobby Healy, one of the brilliant minds behind the success of CarTrawler, is back with Manna.Aero, a fascinating new venture focused on using drones to deliver goods, starting with food. If he is successful Healy could be the author of a breakthrough in transport platform that could make much of the road transport of goods by road a thing of the past. Manna has already attracted backing from venture capital firms Elkstone Capital and Frontline Ventures.

MOF Technologies

Belfast-based Queen’s spinout MOF Technologies works with nanomaterials called metal organic frameworks (MOFs) that can be used to create filters for potentially harmful emissions from industries such as cement, steel and the waste-to-energy sector. MOF Technologies has devised a way to manufacture the nanomaterials on an industrial scale. Led by Jose Casaban and Conor Hamill, the business recently raised €5m in Series A funding.

Nevo

Dublin start-up Nevo is on a mission to accelerate the transition to electric motoring in Ireland by educating motorists. Nevo is Ireland’s first dedicated EV platform, offering a comprehensive range of services catering towards those who want to become informed on electric vehicle ownership, and also to those who are ready to make the switch to electric motoring. Nevo launched earlier in 2022, and has since captured the interests of the Irish public. Nevo is a part of parent group Drive Inc, which was established in 2019 by Shane Ennis and Conor O’Boyle.

NoFrixion

With customers in Ireland, UK, Belgium and Portugal, NoFrixion is leading the charge towards a fully digital payments landscape, with large systems integrators already signing up as partners. The business  recently raised €3.6m in a round led by Delta Partners, Middlegame Ventures and Furthr VC. The funding came soon after NoFrixion’s public launch of its MoneyMoov API, bridging legacy and digital infrastructure while simplifying payments automation and reconciliations.  

Nuritas

Nora Khaldi’s biotech firm Nuritas plans to scale globally in a drive to deliver plant-based peptides after raising $45m (€39m) Series B funding round last year. Nuritas has established the world’s largest peptide knowledge base. Peptides are smaller versions of proteins with the same nutritional power, but with added highly specific benefits. The new funding will accelerate Nuritas’ global expansion and support its mission to unlock the power of nature to make many of the products we consume daily healthier, safer and more sustainable. Last October, Khaldi Nuritas founder and CEO Nora Khaldi was among 17 recipients at the Diversity in Tech Awards, which shone a light on individuals and organisations striving to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Oblivious AI

Oblivious AI has developed pioneering privacy enhancing technologies to help organisations keep sensitive data safe while creating insight opportunities for the data owners. Oblivious AI recently secured $1.05m in an initial seed funding round from investors that include Atlantic Bridge, Act Venture Capital, Hustle Fund and a group of angel investors. The NovaUCD-headquartered company, which was co-founded in 2020 by Robert Pisarczyk (pictured) and Jack Fitzsimons, will use the funding to build out its core team, further develop its initial product offering, and continue to work closely with its early customer base.

Outmin

Outmin provides outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services for small but scaling companies, leveraging AI and cloud technology to create a best in class experience. The business recently raised €1.5m in seed funding to tackle the distraction of admin, with an initial focus on accounts and bookkeeping. Outmin co-founder, Ross Hunt, said: “90pc of the world’s businesses are SMEs, but for a variety of reasons, SME professional services today do not reflect the modern world. We believe that tightly integrating accountants and book-keepers within a cutting-edge data science and machine learning platform is the first step to enable a revolution in SME professional services and our explosive growth to date has already validated our innovative approach.”

Overhaul

Overhaul has developed a software-based platform that gives organisation’s greater oversight and security of their supply chains. It is used by Fortune 100 companies across pharma, logistics, tech and food and beverage that move freight globally. Led by CEO Barry Conlon, it currently employs more than 600 people and is expected to track more than $1 trillion in total moving cargo this year. The business recently raised $73m in a funding round.

Payslip

Mayo business Payslip is scaling globally due to skyrocketing of demand for payroll services by multinationals that have postponed the return to the office. Payslip was founded in Westport, Mayo, in 2015 by Fidelma McGuirk. Payslip’s software-as-a-service platform empowers payroll professionals to streamline their global payroll processes. One of Ireland’s hottest start-ups Payslip is expanding its presence to more than 60 countries having seen a surge in demand for hybrid workforces as a result of the pandemic.

PacSana

Homecare tech company PacSana offers products that help to prolong independent living for older people. Its wearable technology gathers data on exercise, gait, falls and location in the home, developing an accurate picture of care needs of individuals. Led by CEO Feargal Duignan, PacSana recently raised €1m in funding.

Peptalk

Founded in late 2017 by cousins James Brogan and Bernard Brogan, PepTalk has developed what is described as the world’s first Team Experience (TX) platform, underpinned by cutting edge behavioural psychology and academic research. The platform helps organizations, managers, and employees identify and develop habits and behaviours to bring leaders and their teams together to address the ongoing challenges with connection, engagement and productivity in the modern workplace. The software company has experienced strong growth in recent years, reaching over 50,000 employees across four continents and winning the addition of a significant number of global multi-year partnerships with blue chip clients including Verizon, PayPal and Elavon. The business recently raised $3.6m in a funding round led by Venture Wave Capital and has begun its expansion into the US with a newly opened New York office.

Phoenix Recruitment

Led by co-CEOs Ed Rossiter and Ruth Lyndon, Phoenix Recruitment offers recruitment services to companies within the Tech, FinTech, Financial Services, and Professional Services sectors. The Irish headquartered company raised a €1m investment last year to help fuel its international growth plans. Since then the business has gone from strength to strength further expanding into three global geographies with offices currently in Limerick, Dublin, London, and most recently New York. The Phoenix New York office is based in the iconic Chrysler Building on the East Side of Manhattan. Currently the company employs over 50 people worldwide and is expanding across all locations.

PlasmaBound

PlasmaBound has developed Controlled Polymer Ablation (CPA), a ground-breaking, environmentally friendly bonding technology for lightweight composite materials. PlasmaBound’s vision is to make lightweight materials affordable for low to mid-range electric vehicles (EVs), moving the drive toward lower CO2 emissions and longer EV ranges into mass-market applications. This will accelerate viability of the EV proposition and have a step-change impact on sustainable manufacturing. Headquartered at NovaUCD, the business was co-founded in 2017 by Dr James Nicholas Barry, Alan Barry and Xavier Montibert, and was recently selected as one of 5 start-ups to win access to the Hyundai Motor Company and KIA Corporation sponsored 2022 Accelerate the Future Challenge. In recent months UCD spin-out business PlasmaBound closed a €750,000 funding round from Business Venture Partners (BVP).

ProMotion Rewards

Young Irish business ProMotion Rewards helps brands to understand changes in the market right from the till. Consumer rewards player ProMotion, which activates rewards once shoppers simply snap a picture of a receipt, has raised €725,000 in a pre-seed investment round. The business, founded by Trinity graduates and LaunchBox alumni Bidemi Afolabi and Lauren O’Reilly, allows consumers to photograph their receipts, complete surveys and enter competitions via a dedicated app, earning points when they participate. Brand partners provide points boosts and offers when their products are identified in those receipts. These points convert into rewards, such as gift cards, or points can be donated to a charity partner in-app, providing a gamified experience whilst delivering value to their users. ProMotion Rewards shares insights from this data with brand partners who can learn more about the behaviour of their customers to improve their products and provide personalised offers or further cashback to users.

Proveye

Dublin-based Proveye provides an intelligent enterprise SaaS platform combining pioneering image processing for multiple remote sensing sources with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. It is used by agricultural advisors, fertiliser and pesticide suppliers and food processors to provide fast and accurate information about productivity and sustainability on agricultural land to their farmer customers. The Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-up (HPSU) was founded by Jerome O’Connell and Professor Nick Holden, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering. It recently raised €1m in funding.

Qualio

Founded in Ireland in 2012 by Robert Fenton (pictured) Qualio has a global, all remote team. Qualio CEO and founder Robert Fenton now lives in San Francisco, CA. Qualio’s cloud quality management software supports life sciences organisations with technology and services that allow them to seamlessly manage critical quality processes across their entire supply chain. Last year the business raised $50m in Series B funding in a round led by Tiger Global and including Menlo Ventures and current investors Frontline Ventures, MHS Capital, Operator Partners, Sorenson Ventures, and Storm Ventures. This brings to $63m the amount of funding led by the Irish-founded company to date, including the $11m it raised in a Series A round in 2020. Over the last year, Qualio has experienced unprecedented customer demand, including more than 260pc revenue growth year-over-year. To support this demand, the all-remote Qualio has focused on value-driven hiring — including tripling the size of their team. The company now has more than 500 customers across the globe, spanning the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotech, and contract service provider markets. Customers include notable organisations such as Medable, Paula’s Choice Skincare, Proscia, and Ginkgo Bioworks.

ReadDI-Watch

ReadDI-Watch has developed a digital framework to enable businesses to make informed and best-practice decisions in managing their R&D and Innovation activities. ReaDI-Watch, founded in 2021 and headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, has developed a data-driven platform to help companies embrace and unlock their R&D and Innovation potential. Using the ReaDI-Watch platform companies can move from retrospectively reviewing R&D and Innovation in their business to win R&D tax credit claims or draw down grant supports, to addressing the topic in real-time, with seamless management tools for innovation, R&D, technology development, intellectual property, grant funding and R&D tax credits, all in the one platform. The business, led by Dave Byrne, has just launched into the Canadian market and plans to start hiring there.

Riley

Founded by three Irish friends during the pandemic, Riley is disrupting period care with eco-friendly products and healthy supplements. It now ships to 34 countries worldwide. Frustrated with the lack of healthy options in the market three friends Fiona Parfrey, Lauren Duggan and Aine Kilkenny decided that a different approach was needed. “We’re on a mission to start a new era for female health, a crucial era for humankind that has been underserved since the dawn of time,” Parfrey recently told ThinkBusiness.

Ronspot

Starting out as a corporate parking management solution in 2018, Ronspot has evolved to a three-in-one space management platform designed to make hybrid working easy, while also supporting efficiency in the workplace. The cloud-based application enables users to book car and bicycle parking, hot desks and meeting rooms, as well as manage visitor requirements and other resources including lockers – all on one unified mobile app. Users can see real-time availability, as well as the bookings of their colleagues. Led by CEO Michael Furey, the business revealed plans to create 10 jobs after raising €1.1m in an investment round led by Furthr VC along with Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) and Enterprise Ireland.

ServBlock

ServBlock uses blockchain or distributed ledger technology to ensure traceability, privacy and transparency in pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chains. Co-founded by John Ward and Kevin Ward, the business recently received EU funding to build a trusted data exchange system for outsourced pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Scurri

Wexford-based Scurri is redefining the future of retail. Its technology connects and optimises the e-commerce ordering, shipping, and delivery process. The company  adds value at multiple stages along the e-commerce journey: from selecting the most effective delivery option for each package, creating accurate labels, tracking the packages, and running analytics to deliver insight to support process improvement. Founded by Josephine O’Connor, Rory O’Connor (pictured) and Eugene Crehan, the company in 2021 revealed plans to triple its workforce to 120 employees after raising €9m in an investment round led by Gresham House Ventures. This brings the Wexford-based company’s total funding to €15.3m to date.

ShopBox AI 

Shopbox AI is focused on bringing high end Artificial Intelligence to any size of online retailer in order to generate more revenue from online shoppers and compete in a highly competitive space. This is done through an easy to integrate AI product hyper-personalisation platform, already proven to work in over 50 online retailers. The basic issue online retail faces is extremely low margins driven by the ever increasing cost of ads. By “wrapping” the store around the customer, Shopbox clients typically see a 3x increase in conversion. The business was founded in 2020 by Alan Gormley (CEO) and Tariq Zaki (CTO).

Shorla Pharma 

Started in 2018 by Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, start-up Shorla focuses on developing oncology drugs with a focus on rare, orphan and paediatric cancers. Together with a strong team of scientists, clinicians and an extensive industry network, the company has an advanced pipeline of innovative drug products to treat a number of unmet patient needs. The funding will support the advancement of the product pipeline, along with expansion of technical and commercial operations in both Ireland and the US. In 2021, the company raised €7.4m in a Series A investment round. In recent weeks Shorla secured FDA approval for its leukaemia drug.

SISU Clinic

SISU was created in 2018 in collaboration between veteran tech start-up entrepreneur and CEO Pat Phelan, with brothers Dr James Cotter and Dr Brian Cotter. Since then chain of cosmetic clinics have begun their march across Ireland and the UK as well as into the United States with outlets in New York and Florida. CEO Phelan is an established successful entrepreneur who sold his business Trustev in 2015 for $44m.

Spectrum.Life

Spectrum.Life has set itself apart from other mental health and wellbeing providers through its commitment to the fullness of support across the entire mental health journey. Led by CEO Stephen Costello, a recent €5m funding round will be used to further develop and scale the Spectrum.Life platform, including the expansion of its team and the addition of new features and resources. With its 24/7 access to unlimited mental health and wellbeing support, including a personal Mental Health Coach and Open-ended Therapy at the touch of a button, Spectrum.Life is well positioned to continue its rapid growth and make a lasting impact on the mental health and wellbeing of its users.

Spotlight Oral Care

Set up just six years ago by Dr Lisa and Dr Vanessa Creaven, two sisters who are both dentists along with Dr Barry Buckley, Spotlight has developed safe and effective oral care products that are clinically proven to target your dental needs. Since 2016, the oral care brand has revolutionised the industry, with their toothpaste tubes being the first 100pc recyclable tube in the world. Spotlight Oral Care develops, markets, and sells a comprehensive range of products for specific consumer oral care needs both online and through blue-chip retailers in Europe, the UK, and the United States. The company currently has 17 products in its range, all of which are clinically formulated and tailored to target specific oral health needs using clean, active ingredients. Spotlight Oral Care has experienced significant demand and growth over the past 18 months, with turnover trebling to €19m in the last financial year. In 2022 the company raised €12m in a funding round led by Development Capital that will enable the company to drive its international expansion into Europe and the US.

TALY

Founded by sisters Alexandra and Kerri Sheeran, TALY is a centralised platform for managing subscriptions, allowing customers to create a single point for managing subscriptions across sectors like food, beauty, grooming, health, coffee and alcohol. The company is in the process of expanding into the UK and counts Fulfil Nutrition as a partner.

Transfermate

Founded in Kilkenny in 2010 by Terry Clune, TransferMate recently joined the unicorn club after a new $70m funding round that brought the company to a valuation of $1bn. The deal sees CEO Sinead Fizmaurice become the first woman CEO of an Irish unicorn. TransferMate has grown its global licensing infrastructure and banking network to be one of the widest in the industry and has been chosen as the partner of choice to power B2B payments products for some of the largest software platforms, innovative banks and fintechs in the world. It allows businesses and individuals to make cross-border payments in more than 201 countries and 141 currencies, as easily and cost-effectively as if making a domestic funds transfer, and with complete transparency of the transaction through to the point of final reconciliation.

Tines

Tines is an enterprise automation platform designed to help security and ops teams automate manual workloads. The business was founded by Eoin Hinchy and Thomas Kinsella admittedly out of frustration with existing solutions in the market. Today the business is at more than 150 employees across four continents, 13 US states, 10 time zones and growing. The mission now is to simplify the steps involved in maintaining mission-critical workflows at speed and scale, reduce the time to detect suspicious activity and increase the scale and capacity for businesses using Tines to process hundreds of thousands of workflows per year using leaner teams. Tines recently raised a further $55m in Series B funding from some of the biggest venture capital players in Silicon Valley.

TitanHQ

Cloud-based email and web protection company TitanHQ has seen recruitment surge almost 45pc since last year. The expansion comes as TitanHQ has welcomed an influx of new business as more managed service providers and SMBs seek better and more powerful email and web security solutions. Headquartered in Salthill, Galway, and with offices in Tampa, Florida, TitanHQ are a 25-year young multi-award-winning cloud security vendor. The company is trusted by over 12,000 businesses including 2,500 MSPs across 150 countries, protecting companies including T-Mobile, Virgin, O2, ViaSat, Pepsi, and Datto.  In addition to its organic year-on-year growth, recent significant investment from Livingbridge investor group has turbocharged the company’s growth. This has allowed TitanHQ to accelerate ambitious growth plans through increased investment in product development and in people.

UFODRIVE

Founded in 2018 by Aidan McCLean, UFODRIVE offer a fully digital rental experience, charge point wayfinding, touchless smartphone access and online customer support with live telematics using UFODRIVE’s SaaS platform.. The business has experienced sustained growth throughout the pandemic, opening new locations as well as adding home delivery and subscription to its existing rental operation. Following successful live testing in 2021, Hertz aims to deploy UFODRIVE’S market-leading digital rental and fleet management technology to enhance its global EV fleet operations. The business recently raised $19m in Series A led by Hertz in partnership with Knightshead Capital and existing shareholders.

Unify Ordering

Unify Ordering was born out of Barry McNerney’s own experience in the restaurant industry as owner of Lotts & Co., Paulie’s Pizza, and Junior’s Deli and Café. Unify Ordering is shaking up the hospitality sector by replacing an antiquated and fragmented ordering process for Buyers and Suppliers on one mobile-friendly platform. Unify Ordering has over 2,000 suppliers and restaurant customers on its ordering platform.

Vaultree

Vaultree has been growing in stealth mode since been founded only a year ago by software engineers hellbent on making it possible to work with fully-encrypted cloud-based data without the need to decrypt or surrender security keys. The Cork-based company led by founders Maxim Dressler, Ryan Lasmaili, Tilo Weigandt, and Shaun McBrearty raised $3.3m in 2021 in a round led by Ten Eleven Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, Unpopular Ventures, HBAN and former Cisco chief security officer John Stewart.

VisionR

Fast-growing Irish tech firm VisionR wants help bricks and mortar retailers compete just as effectively offline with the online giants. Formerly known as Glimpse, VisionR last year received €1.5m in backing and aims to help bricks and mortar retailers personalise the customer journey. The company has also secured a partnership with Spar International that will see its technology rolled out across the retail giant’s 13,500 stores in 48 countries.

Wayflyer

Dublin business Wayflyer joined the storied ranks of Ireland’s relatively young unicorn herd in early 2022 after raising $150m. The business, which was founded only in 2019 by Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierce provides revenue-based financing and marketing analytics for online firms. It then provides e-commerce stores with unsecured capital to secure advertising and inventory ahead of selling items. Wayflyer is understood to have advanced $500m to more than 800 companies globally last year. In mid-2022 it emerged that Wayflyer took on $300m in debt financing from JP Morgan.

WebDoctor

Telehealth platform WebDoctor enables engagement and collaboration between healthcare practitioners and their patients. More than 350,000 Irish patients are registered on its GP platform. Founded in 2013 by Oisin and Howard Kim and Martin Commins, WebDoctor’s parent business Medihive recently raised €7m from investors, which will go towards generating 42 new jobs.

Webio

Dublin and Limerick-based Webio provides conversational middleware for very large companies in retail, financial services, and utilities. Founded by Paul Sweeney, Graham Brierton, Mark Oppermann and Cormac O’Neill Webio recently raised €500,000 to complete a €1. 5m pre-Series A funding round. Webio operates in the conversational AI market which is expected to grow to €11bn by 2024. While its customers have been predominantly in the Irish and UK markets, Webio has recently secured several key partnerships in Europe and the US, laying the foundations for future growth. Last year Webio secured $4m to scale its conversational AI technology for use in the collections and payments industry worldwide. The Series A investment was led by Finch Capital.

Weeve

Irish start-up Weeve helps people to learn new languages by weaving them into popular books. Founded by Cian McNally, Evan McGloughlin, Oisín Morrin and Aaron Connolly, Weeve aims to make learning new languages fun. ““Our Weeve application acts as a reader or audio player for weeves. Weeves are condensed 15-30 minutes summaries of the best-selling non-fiction titles,” McGloughlin explained. “Our AI technology matches users to the perfect series of books based on their own individualised learning goals. From economics and startups to sex and relationships and everything in between, all while seamlessly acquiring a language of their choice.”

Workvivo

Workvivo is a young company that could be synonymous with the world of work in the coming decade. Founded by John Goulding and Joe Lennon, the Douglas, Co Cork-based company has developed an internal communications platform to increase employee engagement. Workvivo has since won the backing of Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan and is creating 100 new jobs in Cork. In recent months it emerged that 19,000 Ryanair employees will use the Workvivo employee app as their central hub for communications.

UPDATE – Workvivo was acquired by Zoom last year

Xerotech

Galway-based Xerotech is a world leader in advanced battery system for non-road mobile machinery. Its Hibernium battery pack platform allows heavy-duty machinery to be configured as electric vehicles. Xerotech has a proven track record of delivering high-performance battery solutions for a wide range of applications, from mining and construction equipment to marine and aviation vehicles. Led by CEO Barry Flannery, Xerotech has just announced 100 new roles to support its drive to meet rising demand worldwide.

xWave

 xWave Technologies, an Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-up, supported by the HSE Digital Transformation Team, was established in 2020 by a group of leading Irish radiologists who were looking to solve the problems that they face in their day-to-day work. In 2021, xWave Technologies launched xRefer, a smart radiology referral platform. xRefer uses market-leading evidence to support clinicians in ordering the most appropriate radiology scan for their patient. As a cloud-based platform, available on web, iOS and Android apps, xRefer enables clinicians to quickly create and send evidence-based digital radiology referrals from anywhere, to any hospital or imaging centre, whether public or private. The business has already demonstrated a positive impact in Irish hospitals where use of xRefer has reduced the average time taken to create, send and have a referral reviewed by a radiologist by 99.6%. This has enabled scheduling of patient appointments to occur a week and a half earlier on average. The business last year raised €1.3m in funding from private investors.

xOcean

Data gathered by uncrewed surface vessels made by Louth business Xocean have the potential to transform ocean exploration as well as offshore wind farms by gathering whole oceans’ worth of data. Founded by James Ives, Xocean’s data technology allows large businesses such as energy companies to survey the ocean floor to do everything from discovering minerals, maintaining important fibre optic telecoms networks to surveying for suitable locations for offshore wind farms. The company in 2021 secured €8m in an investment round that values the company at more than €100m.

Yonder

Yonder empowers employers to create packages in minutes and employees to secure local health and retirement benefits in just a few taps. Founded in 2022, by a team of serial entrepreneurs and engineers including CEO Luke Mackey, former Ireland Country Manager for ride-hailing unicorn Bolt and founder of food-tech app Bamboo, CTO Patrick O’Boyle, former CTO at Bamboo, and director of Engineering Deepak Baliga, former engineer at food-tech unicorn Flipdish. Yonder came from a shared frustration with the slow, siloed and paper-based processes of setting up employee benefits that didn’t resonate with them or their peers. The trio reunited and joined forces to modernise the entire process, and redefine how small businesses and their employees access health insurance and retirement benefits, globally. “Yonder is rebuilding the entire employee benefits experience.” said Luke Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO. 

ZEUS Scooters

Established in 2019 by former banker Damian Young and launched in Germany in 2020, ZEUS Scooters has expanded into six countries across two continents and over 40 locations, making it Ireland’s largest micro mobility company. ZEUS has gained a positive spotlight across Europe for introducing the world’s first Three-Wheeled Sharing Scooter and has expanded this to almost 5,000 vehicles globally. The investment will support its growth plans as well as new innovations expected over the next 12 months. These include the launch of the new Z2 Scooter in Europe and the roll out of its Solar Powered Docking stations known as Lit Trees. The business last year raised €5m for expansion and development of its innovative solutions for markets globally.

Zipp Mobility

Zipp Mobility, established by Charlie Gleeson in 2019 and headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin, is already a significant player in the European micromobility sharing market, having launched e-scooter and e-bike operations in nine (9) cities in the UK, Ireland and Poland. The business  closed a €6.1m funding round led by Fasanara Capital, a UK-based asset manager, and follow-on investment from a number of existing investors. 

UPDATE – Zipp Mobility was acquired by Zeus Scooters last year