A while back, Forbes Magazine ranked Dublin as the “best city to found a business in”. But the Irish capital is not just attractive for startups, but is also home to the European headquarters of tech heavyweights like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Airbnb. The Brexit will most likely convince even more international companies to move their European headquarter from London to Dublin. This will probably lead to an additional boost for the Irish tech and startup ecosystem.
This week we took a closer look at the Irish startup scene with the goal to introduce you to some of the most promising startups from there. Below you’ll find 10 Irish startups to look out for in 2018 and beyond.
Nova Leah develops expert cybersecurity risk-management systems specifically for medical devices. The Dundalk-based company’s product, SelectEvidence, was developed at the Dundalk Institute of Technology and guides manufactures through the processes of identifying applicable threats to their devices and implementing the right security controls to mitigate those threats. The startup was awarded the Grand Prix at the Irish National Startup Awards 2018.
Flender: Successfully funded through the Seedrs equity crowdfunding platform, Dublin’s Flender is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for businesses and consumers to borrow and lend money through their existing networks. Flender was launched in early 2017, offering a combination of social network, low-interest rates and an excellent mobile experience. They have so far raised €2 million from investors to formalise the social lending market among friends, family and business connections.
Flipdish is a food tech startup which has developed an online ordering platform for the restaurant and takeaway market, provides data services to help clients understand and improve their own business based on their own customer behaviours and purchases. Founded by brothers Conor and James McCarthy in 2015, Flipdish has over 500 stores using its platform in Ireland, and 100 stores in the UK and has just recently raised €2 million from investors.
Fillit: Founded in 2015, Fillit is a Dublin based startup that connects people with empty or underutilised space to those looking for temporary places for events, pop-ups, retail, promotions and everything in-between. Set on a mission to get people to Rethink Space, Fillit is described as the Airbnb for pop-up spaces since it cuts out the middle man and puts bookers and listers in direct contact with one another.
Intouch develops shopper engagement platform, using AI, machine learning and big data. By digitizing the in-store experience, Intouch helps turn visitors into registered users, eliminate customer information decay and capture related insights. So far they have raised funding from a private angel investor, NDRC, and Enterprise Ireland, and are looking into further expansion on the European market.
Mingo develops a unique multichannel messaging and eSports app with an integrated cryptocurrency wallet based on its own cryptocurrency called MingoCoin. MingoCoin will be the in-app currency – an easy-to-use, widely accepted token in the Mingo Plugin Economy. Mingo successfully finished its first ICO in March, 2018.
Opening is AI-powered engine that provides talent discovery, matching, predicting and recommending for recruiters, employers and job platforms. The B2B solution generates shortlists of suitable candidates for each job, ranks the most relevant talent, predicts salaries and uncovers other essential insights and information. Founded in 2015 by two Romanian serial entrepreneurs, Opening was named an overall winner at NDRC Investor Day 2017.
SwiftComply is a hospitality compliance platform, connecting restaurants, cities and contractors to make environmental compliance easy. Founded in 2016, the company, which was recognised by Enterprise Ireland as a “high potential start-up” graduated from Techstars’s programme and soon afterwards, secured $2.8 million investments from investors and Horizon 2020 SME Instrument and opened its US office.
Trezeo is a fintech startup which adds stability for the self-employed workers, providing a consistent income throughout the year, by turning unpredictable income streams into reliable and regular payments. According to the startup, with their income-smoothing service “lean months can be a little easier, and the good months can lead to extra saving”. They won the top prize at NDRC Investor Day and plan to launch the full product next year.
CleverBooks is an ed-tech startup developing personalised books for kids with educational content and 3D augmented reality technologies. They are one of the first companies in the world combining truly innovative augmented reality technology with traditional techniques to enhance children’s learning. In 2017, they released a new AR-based geometry app for primary education.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
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