Irish e-commerce and retail tech start-ups to watch in 2026

Ireland’s e-commerce and retail technology start-up community is rapidly gaining global recognition for its innovation, agility, and export potential.

Anchored by a strong digital infrastructure and a supportive ecosystem of accelerators, investors, and government initiatives, Irish start-ups are developing solutions that span online retail platforms, AI-driven customer engagement, logistics optimisation, and payment technologies.

Companies such as eDesk, ChannelSight, and Luzern are helping brands scale internationally by streamlining operations and enhancing customer experience across marketplaces.

Meanwhile, newer entrants are leveraging AI, machine learning, and data analytics to personalise shopping, automate support, and improve conversion rates. Ireland’s strategic position within the EU, combined with its English-speaking workforce and tech talent pool, makes it an attractive launchpad for global expansion.

The sector benefits from collaboration with academic institutions and enterprise hubs, including Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices, which provide funding and mentorship. Irish start-ups are increasingly exporting their solutions to markets in North America, Europe, and Asia, contributing to the country’s reputation as a digital commerce innovator.

Companies such as &Open, CleverCards, Conjura, and Scurri are scaling internationally, offering platforms that enhance customer experience, streamline operations, and enable smarter decision-making. Start-ups like ShopBox AI, Source, and StoreHero are leveraging machine learning and real-time data to personalise shopping and optimise performance for retailers of all sizes. Meanwhile, Manna is pioneering drone delivery logistics, and VisionR is bridging the data gap between physical and online retail.

These ventures are not only transforming Ireland’s domestic retail landscape but are also exporting their technologies to North America, Europe, and Asia. Many are backed by global investors and supported by Enterprise Ireland, NovaUCD, and Dogpatch Labs, positioning Ireland as a launchpad for scalable retail tech solutions.

Here are ones to watch:

&Open

&Open is a Dublin-based corporate gifting platform founded in 2017 by Ciara Flood, Jonathan Legge, and Mark Legge. The company aims to revolutionize corporate gifting by enabling brands to send high-quality, design-led, and responsibly sourced gifts at scale. Operating in over 120 countries, &Open supports customer loyalty and engagement across sales, marketing, and customer experience teams.

The platform offers both digital and physical gifting options and launched its On-Demand service in 2022, allowing smaller businesses and emerging brands to access its gifting infrastructure. This expansion has helped &Open grow its team to over 90 employees across Ireland, the UK, and the US, with plans to open a New York office .

In terms of funding, &Open raised a $26 million Series A round in June 2022 led by Molten Ventures, bringing its total capital raised to $33.2 million. Previous investors include LocalGlobe, First Round Capital, Middlegame Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank .

The founders bring a mix of retail and design expertise. Ciara Flood previously worked with Net-a-Porter, while Jonathan and Mark Legge are known for their work in Irish design and retail. Their combined vision has positioned &Open as a leader in the gifting-as-a-service space, serving global brands and scaling rapidly in the B2B SaaS market.

Assiduous

Assiduous was founded by experienced investment bankers Fergal Meegan and Barry Murphy and is headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin.

Its Corporate Finance Autopilot is a virtual corporate finance service-as-a-software solution, enabled by the latest AI advances, bridges the gap between business owners and capital markets. The platform supports small and medium sized companies preparing for strategic, financing and liquidity transactions with a whole of lifecycle approach.

Earlier this year the business secured €1m in funding.

Bounce Insights

Bounce Insights is a Dublin-based AI-powered market research start-up founded by five Trinity College graduates: Rónán Dowling-Cullen, Charlie Butler, Brandon Dooley, Josh Stafford, and Brian O’Mahony. Launched in 2022, the company has quickly gained traction by transforming how brands access consumer insights, particularly among Gen Z and millennial audiences.

The platform combines proprietary datasets, generative AI, and in-house research expertise to automate 90% of the market research process. This enables brands to make faster, data-driven decisions with insights delivered seven times quicker and 40% more cost-effectively than traditional methods. Bounce’s clients include global names such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, Mondelez, Unilever, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, and Clorox.

In December 2024, Bounce Insights raised $4.5 million (€4.27 million) in a seed funding round led by Irrus Investments, Enterprise Ireland, Digital Irish Venture Fund, and industry veteran Ian Kiernan (MRops). This followed a $1.2 million angel round in 2022, backed by notable investors including Anne Heraty (Cpl Resources), Gareth Lambe (Meta, Medihive), David Shackleton (OpenBack, Ding), and Michael Dwyer (Pigsback). The company has raised $6.5 million to date.

Bounce plans to triple its workforce to 75 by the end of 2026 and open a New York office to support its growing North American client base. Co-founder Charlie Butler is relocating to New York to lead US operations. The company is currently hiring across software engineering, sales, and research in Dublin, London, and North America.

Buymedia

Buymedia is a Galway-based advertising technology company founded by Fergal O’Connor in 2015. The platform is designed to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by simplifying and optimizing the advertising process across traditional and digital media. Buymedia enables businesses to plan, purchase, manage, and monitor advertising campaigns through a single interface, helping them compete more effectively with larger brands that typically have greater resources and data insights.

O’Connor, who previously served as Head of Sales at IRISH TV, launched Buymedia to address the inefficiencies SMEs face in the advertising market. The company’s AI-powered platform uses machine learning to analyse campaign performance and recommend future strategies based on both industry benchmarks and business-specific data. This allows SMEs to make informed decisions and improve their return on investment.

Buymedia claims to have developed a world-first platform that integrates all media types—print, radio, TV, out-of-home, social, and digital—into one system. The company’s mission is to level the playing field for SMEs in a fragmented and siloed advertising landscape. Its tools include intelligent ad placement, AI-powered insights, group ad purchasing, and a self-serve advertising marketplace.

While specific funding figures are not publicly disclosed, Buymedia has received support from Enterprise Ireland and is actively scaling its operations.

CleverCards

CleverCards is a Dublin-based fintech company founded by Kealan Lennon. It operates a global digital payments platform that enables businesses and public sector organisations to instantly send digital Mastercards via SMS, WhatsApp, or email. These cards can be used online or in-store through Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay, with configurable limits and spend categories for employers.

Launched officially in 2023, CleverCards has rapidly scaled, onboarding over 10,000 businesses and reaching 350,000 users across 92 countries. The platform is widely used for employee benefits, expense management, insurance payouts, and social welfare payments. It supports Ireland’s Small Benefit Exemption scheme, allowing employers to issue tax-free non-cash benefits to staff.

In June 2024, CleverCards raised €8m in funding from Pluxee, a global leader in employee benefits, alongside existing investors. This brought its total capital raised to €28 million. The funding will accelerate global expansion and product development, positioning CleverCards as a leader in digital payments innovation.

Founder and CEO Kealan Lennon has led the company through multiple funding rounds, including early backing from Delta Partners and angel investors from Ireland, the UK, and the US. CleverCards has invested over $10 million in its technology platform, which operates as a plug-and-play solution for businesses to generate, distribute, and manage payment cards globally.

Recognised as one of Ireland’s top scaling fintechs, CleverCards continues to push boundaries in mobile-enabled payments, with strong support from Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Conjura

Conjura is a Dublin-based data analytics company founded by Fran Quilty in 2018. The company provides a cloud-based SaaS platform that delivers AI-powered insights for e-commerce businesses.

Conjura’s technology integrates data from multiple sources – eCommerce store, ERP, OMS, Marketplaces and ad platforms –into a single dashboard, enabling businesses to benchmark performance and make data-driven decisions across teams.

The platform is designed to replace fragmented analytics tools with a unified solution that offers AI-driven recommendations and operational visibility. Conjura’s clients span multiple retail verticals, and its technology has benchmarked thousands of e-commerce businesses globally. The company employs over 30 people and is expanding its footprint in Ireland, the UK, and international markets.

In April 2022, Conjura raised €15m in Series A funding, led by Act Venture Capital and MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from Tribal VC. The funding is being used to enhance its multi-product analytics suite and accelerate international expansion.

Fran Quilty, the CEO and founder, has emphasised the growing need for businesses to differentiate themselves in a competitive digital landscape. He believes Conjura’s integrated approach to data analysis represents the next generation of e-commerce solutions, helping companies improve operational efficiency and drive profitability.

Conjura is also planning to launch its AI Agent, Owly AI, empowering brands to interact with their performance data in plain English. The AI Agent will allow users to generate custom reports instantly, optimise strategies with intelligent recommendations and forecast revenue and stock up to 90-days in advance.

Coras

Coras is a Dublin-based technology company founded by Mark McLaughlin and James Bailey in 2015. It operates a ticketing and distribution platform that enables brands to sell tickets for events, attractions, and experiences directly through their own websites and apps. Coras is designed to integrate seamlessly with travel and hospitality platforms, allowing companies like Ryanair, Lufthansa, and Wizz Air to offer ancillary services such as concert or museum tickets alongside flight bookings.

The platform is live in over 50 countries, across 350 cities, and supports 20 languages and currencies, making it a truly global solution for ticketing and experience distribution. Coras also launched Fida, a Web3 loyalty platform that allows customers to spend loyalty points across multiple brands, further expanding its reach into tokenised commerce.

In terms of funding, Coras has raised capital through four seed rounds, with the most recent round closing in August 2024. Investors include QVentures, Salica, Atlantic Bridge University Fund, and Elkstone Capital Partners. The company has received backing from a total of seven investors, supporting its growth and international expansion.

Coras’s mission is to simplify access to live experiences by embedding ticketing into everyday consumer journeys. Its API-driven infrastructure allows partners to offer curated experiences without the need for complex integrations or inventory management.

Everseen

Founded in Cork in 2007, Everseen develops computer vision and artificial intelligence solutions for some of the world’s largest retailers. Led by CEO Alan O’Herlihy, Everseen employs 1,000 people globally.

The business develops AI-powered computer vision technology for the retail sector with inventory management and monitoring at self-service checkouts.

Last year, Everseen raised €65m in a Series A funding round.

Everyangle

Everyangle is a Dublin-based retail technology company founded in 2019, specializing in computer vision and AI-powered analytics for physical retail environments. The platform transforms CCTV footage into actionable insights, helping retailers optimize operations, reduce shrinkage, and improve customer experience.

Everyangle’s solutions are built on Cisco Meraki MV smart cameras and are used across retail and industrial sectors to analyse footfall, dwell time, queue lengths, and staff efficiency.

The company’s mission is to help retailers “see every angle” of their business by turning complex visual data into clear, strategic decisions. Its productised computer vision tools are designed for rapid deployment and scalability, enabling retailers to gain rich in-store insights without the need for custom development.

In October 2022, Everyangle raised €2.7m in seed funding to support its expansion into the UK and US markets. The round was led by Act Venture Capital, Furthr VC, and Sure Valley Ventures, with additional support from Enterprise Ireland. The funding is being used to enhance product development and scale commercial operations.

Manna

Manna is an Irish drone delivery company founded by serial entrepreneur Bobby Healy in 2018.

Headquartered in Dublin, Manna provides a “Drone Delivery as a Service” platform that enables restaurants, dark kitchens, and e-commerce businesses to deliver goods within minutes across a 30-square-mile catchment area. The company’s drones can deliver everything from food and fashion to pharmaceuticals, offering a scalable and environmentally friendly alternative to road-based logistics.

Healy, formerly CTO of CarTrawler, is a seasoned tech entrepreneur with a background in aviation and travel technology. His vision for Manna is to make Ireland a global hub for drone logistics, positioning the company at the forefront of the fifth industrial age. Manna has already completed tens of thousands of deliveries in towns like Balbriggan and Blanchardstown, and is expanding into the Nordics and the UK, with partnerships including JustEat and DoorDash.

In March 2025, Manna raised \$30 million in a venture round led by Molten Ventures and Tapestry VC, with participation from Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, Enterprise Ireland, and others. This brought its total funding to over $55 million across five rounds. The capital is being used to scale operations, develop quieter aircraft, and expand internationally.

Despite facing regulatory and community challenges—such as noise complaints and planning objections – Manna continues to innovate, including trials for life-saving equipment delivery and collaborations with Vodafone on BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone flights.

Scurri

Scurri is a Wexford-based delivery management platform founded in 2010 by Rory O’Connor, who previously worked in logistics at Waterford Crystal. The company helps e-commerce retailers streamline the online ordering, shipping, and delivery process by integrating with multiple carriers and platforms.

Scurri’s cloud-based software enables merchants to create labels, select optimal carriers, and manage shipments efficiently, reducing complexity and improving customer experience.

O’Connor’s entrepreneurial journey began with a personal frustration—trying to source alloy wheels and struggling with delivery logistics. This inspired him to build a scalable tech solution for retailers. Scurri has since grown into a global player, processing over €10.5bn worth of shipments in 2023 alone and powering more than 100 million deliveries.

The company recently opened a state-of-the-art European headquarters in Wexford, designed to support over 100 employees and foster collaboration. It plans to recruit 40 new roles across sales, marketing, support, and engineering over the next two years.

Scurri has raised €15.3 million in funding from investors including Gresham House Ventures, Act Venture Capital, Episode 1, Enterprise Ireland, and private angels. In May 2024, it acquired UK-based conversational AI platform HelloDone to enhance customer service capabilities within its delivery experience.

With a strong focus on sustainable growth and regional development, Scurri continues to expand across Ireland, the UK, and Europe, positioning itself as a key enabler of the digital commerce revolution.

Source

Source is a Dublin-based AI start-up revolutionising retail procurement through intelligent automation.

Co-founded by 18-year-old Liam Fuller, Source has developed a platform that streamlines stock purchasing for retailers using agentic AI. The system integrates seamlessly with tools like Excel, email, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, enabling retail buyers to make smarter, faster purchasing decisions.

At its core, Source analyses inventory levels and historical sales data to forecast demand and generate purchase orders. These AI-generated suggestions can be reviewed and approved by humans with a single click, significantly reducing the manual workload and inefficiencies associated with traditional procurement methods.

The company recently secured €1.2m in pre-seed funding, led by Australian venture capital firm Square Peg, with participation from former Stripe CTO David Singleton and the Xtripe angel syndicate. This investment makes Fuller the youngest founder in Square Peg’s portfolio. The funding will support Source’s expansion, including doubling its engineering team, launching pilot programs in the U.S., and relocating to Silicon Valley later this year.

Source is also part of the NDRC Accelerator, operated by Dogpatch Labs in Dublin, positioning it within Ireland’s vibrant startup ecosystem. Fuller’s vision for Source was sparked by the outdated procurement practices he observed in retail, and his rapid execution has already drawn praise from seasoned investors for its technical and commercial maturity.

With its innovative approach and ambitious roadmap, Source is poised to become a key player in the future of retail operations.

ShopBox AI

ShopBox AI is a Dublin-based retail technology start-up founded in 2020 by Alan Gormley (CEO) and Tariq Zaki (CTO), both of whom previously held senior roles at SAS Institute, a global leader in AI solutions [1]. The company was created to address the growing gap between traditional retailers and tech giants like Amazon, offering a plug-and-play AI platform that transforms online stores into dynamic, customer-centric experiences.

ShopBox AI’s core product is a hyper-personalisation engine that adapts in real time to each shopper’s behavior, starting from the very first click. Unlike other solutions that require extensive customer interaction before becoming effective, ShopBox begins delivering tailored product suggestions immediately. This approach has helped over 50 retailers significantly boost conversion rates and manage inventory more effectively.

The platform is fully automated and balances customer preferences with retailer priorities such as long-tail stock, variable margins, and promotions. Retailers can go live with minimal setup, and the system requires no ongoing management, making it ideal for businesses of all sizes.

In June 2021, ShopBox AI raised a seed funding round to support product development and market expansion. While the exact funding amount is undisclosed, the company has gained recognition across Ireland’s tech ecosystem, including winning the eCommerce Software Tool of the Year award and being listed among ThinkBusiness.ie’s “Hot 100 Irish Start-ups to Watch in 2025”.

ShopBox AI continues to push the boundaries of retail innovation, helping businesses compete more effectively in a landscape dominated by data-driven giants.

StoreHero

StoreHero is a Dublin-based e-commerce analytics startup founded in 2022. The company provides online retailers with actionable insights to help them understand how they make money and optimise their performance across platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. StoreHero’s platform is designed to support brands in improving customer acquisition, retention, and overall profitability by offering real-time data and performance benchmarking tools.

The company was co-founded by Conor McElligott and Ciarán McKenna, who previously worked together at digital agency Wolfgang Digital. Their experience in digital marketing and e-commerce strategy laid the foundation for StoreHero’s mission: to empower online businesses with the same level of insight and control as large-scale enterprises.

In July 2023, StoreHero raised €600,000 in a pre-seed funding round, which enabled the company to onboard over 30 paying customers within its first eight months of operation. The funding has supported product development and early market traction, positioning StoreHero as a promising player in the Irish retail tech ecosystem.

Tipple

Tipple is a Dublin-based fintech and regtech startup founded in 2022 by Eoin Bara, Jamie Plenderleith, and Laura Meredith. The company provides a unified commerce infrastructure for the alcohol industry, streamlining logistics, payments, and compliance across borders. Tipple’s platform serves a wide range of stakeholders—from direct-to-consumer (DTC) startups to wholesalers, distributors, and retailers—enabling them to sell, ship, and get paid effortlessly regardless of location.

Tipple is designed to modernise and digitise the alcohol supply chain, offering tools that simplify transactions and regulatory processes. Its infrastructure supports both B2B and DTC operations, making it a versatile solution for brands navigating complex international markets. The company has positioned itself as a key enabler of digital transformation in a traditionally fragmented industry.

In April 2025, Tipple raised a €4m seed round led by Quadri Ventures, with participation from Form Ventures, 7percent Ventures, BackFuture, and Dogpatch Labs. This funding followed two earlier pre-seed rounds in 2022, and is being used to scale operations, enhance platform capabilities, and expand into new markets.

Unturn

Unturn is a Dublin-based retail technology start-up founded in 2024, focused on transforming the post-purchase experience for e-commerce businesses.

The business operates in the intersection of AI, SaaS, and retail technology, and is part of Ireland’s growing ecosystem of startups focused on digital commerce.

The company offers a platform that streamlines returns, exchanges, and customer support, helping online retailers reduce friction and improve customer satisfaction. Unturn’s solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing e-commerce systems, offering automation and personalization powered by artificial intelligence.

The platform is particularly valuable for brands looking to optimize reverse logistics and retain customers through intelligent workflows. By simplifying the returns process and offering smart exchange options, Unturn helps retailers reduce churn and increase lifetime value. Its AI-driven approach also enables businesses to gather insights from customer behaviour and feedback, turning operational challenges into strategic opportunities.

In April 2025, Unturn raised €110,000 through a Convertible Note funding round, marking its first formal investment milestone. The funding is being used to accelerate product development and expand its customer base across Ireland and the UK. While the company is still in its early stages, it has already attracted attention for its innovative approach to a traditionally overlooked part of the e-commerce journey.

Vevol Media

Vevol Media is a Naas-based e-commerce agency founded in 2018 by Dan Nistor and Bogdan Dogaru. The company specialises in building and optimising high-performing online stores, primarily using the Shopify platform. Vevol Media’s mission is to simplify the digital commerce journey for merchants by offering seamless replatforming services, custom Shopify Plus builds, and performance-focused design solutions.

Dan Nistor’s entrepreneurial journey is particularly inspiring. Originally from Romania, he moved to Ireland in 2015 and worked as a butcher and later as a security guard. During night shifts, he taught himself web design and e-commerce, eventually launching his own stores and experimenting with digital marketing strategies. This self-driven learning led to the creation of Vevol Media, which now operates as a fully remote Shopify Partners agency serving international clients.

Bogdan Dogaru, based in the UK, brings a strong technical background to the team, complementing Nistor’s design and business acumen. Together, they’ve built a company that prioritizes both user experience and merchant efficiency. Their approach includes optimizing site speed, mobile adaptability, and checkout flows, resulting in measurable improvements—such as a 70% increase in site speed and a 25% boost in sales for one client after migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify.

Vevol Media estimates Ireland’s addressable online market at €8 billion, with global e-commerce projected to exceed $7.4 trillion by 2025.

VisionR

VisionR is a Dublin-based retail technology company founded by Shane O’Sullivan and Oran Mulvey, school friends from The King’s Hospital who later pursued careers in tech and marketing respectively. Originally launched as Glimpse, the company rebranded to VisionR to reflect its mission of bridging the data gap between physical and online retail.

VisionR offers a Phygital SaaS platform that transforms in-store shopper behavior into actionable online-style analytics. Its flagship product, the Scout sensor, is a plug-and-play IoT device that uses video analytics to track footfall, shopper demographics, group behavior, aisle engagement, and dwell time. It integrates with point-of-sale systems to provide a full picture of customer journeys—from entry to purchase.

The company aims to empower bricks-and-mortar retailers with the same level of insight that e-commerce platforms enjoy, helping them optimize layouts, promotions, and staffing based on real-time data. VisionR has partnered with Spar International, enabling rollout across 13,500 stores in 48 countries.

In terms of funding, VisionR raised €1.5 million in 2022 from Delta Partners, Enterprise Ireland, and Movidius co-founder Seán Mitchell, followed by a €1.7m seed round in June 2025 led by Middlegame Ventures and Delta Partners. The funding supports VisionR’s expansion into the US and the creation of up to 30 new jobs.

With the global retail analytics market projected to triple in size over the next eight years, VisionR is well-positioned to lead innovation in physical retail intelligence.

Webio

Webio is a Dublin-based conversational AI company founded in 2016 by Cormac O’Neill, Mark Oppermann, and Paul Sweeney. The company specialises in automating customer engagement in the credit, collections, and payments industry through intelligent messaging. Its platform uses Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning, and automated chatbots to deliver personalised, scalable conversations across digital channels like SMS, WhatsApp, and webchat.

Webio’s mission is to rebalance the credit and collections ecosystem by enabling lenders to engage with customers—especially vulnerable ones—in a more empathetic and effective way. Acting as a “central intelligence hub,” the platform orchestrates all elements of a customer journey, helping businesses manage sensitive financial conversations with care and precision.

In July 2023, Webio raised €2.5m in a funding round led by Hambro Perks Growth Debt Fund, which contributed €1.75m in venture debt. Existing investor Finch Capital also participated in the round. This funding followed a $4m Series A round in 2022, also led by Finch Capital. Webio is additionally backed by Enterprise Ireland and the European Institute of Innovation & Technology.

Headquartered in Temple Bar, Dublin, with subsidiaries in the UK and Poland, Webio is expanding its footprint across Europe. The company has been recognised for its IP-rich technology and is considered a leader in conversational middleware for sectors like financial services, utilities, and retail.

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