The annual National Startup Awards reward excellence in vision and innovation, marketing, and social impact. Open to rising stars across all industries and technologies, the awards help them on their journey to success by providing national and international exposure and credibility. The awards “shine a light on talented founders, innovative products and services, and startups with the potential for rapid growth”.So, who are the most disruptive, scalable, and fundable companies in Ireland? It appears that many of them are Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers participants and alumni. This year saw 14 New Frontiers startups collect awards after a tough regional selection process and live pitching to a panel of expert judges. Congratulations to all the startups who took part, and to the winners from the New Frontiers community below!
National Startup Awards winners 2023 from the New Frontiers programme
Category: AI Focused Startup
“The advent of AI has had significant impacts on the startup landscape and this category is open to startups whose value proposition is centred on artificial intelligence or that utilize AI substantially in their product or service delivery.”
BRONZE: Snappie Dev. Founder: Mihael Melnic (participated in the programme at IADT in partnership with UCD – 2023). Snappie allows users to create top-quality, unique and beautiful websites, instantly, at freelance prices, on a revolutionary AI-based platform.
Category: Tech Startup
“We want to recognise Ireland’s booming tech start-up community and celebrate and reward the nation’s best tech businesses.”
GOLD: ReaDI-Watch. Founder: David Byrne (participated in the programme at TU Dublin – Tallaght Campus – 2021). ReaDI-Watch is an innovation management system (IMS) – a digital platform built by innovation and R&D experts to help companies embrace and unlock their innovation potential across any industry. Using ReaDI-Watch as a centralised platform, they can build, track, protect, and manage innovation and R&D strategy, including projects, teams, and intellectual property.
SILVER: LiveCosts. Founder: Ciaran Brennan (participated in the programme at TU Dublin – Blanchardstown Campus -2017). LiveCosts is a Blanchardstown, Co Dublin-based business with a simple goal. It tells construction companies if they are making money or not in real time. As is often the case, simple doesn’t mean easy. They collect data and apply it back to the main dashboard. Ciaran started the business in 2017 alongside his brother Niall and Diarmuid Quinn and Livecosts now has 15 staff.
Category: Early Stage start up
“The Early Stage Startup award is designed to recognise Startups that display great potential for future growth. Early Stage Startups can come from any sector but must be under 2 years old (From date of incorporation).”
BRONZE: HomeHop. Founder: Robert Kelly (participated in the programme at TU Dublin – Tallaght Campus – 2023). HomeHop streamlines maintenance and operations for property management companies across the globe. They can reduces maintenance costs, boost revenue, and scales business with HomeHop’s white-labelled, plug-and-play technology.
Category: eCommerce & Retail Startup
“eCommerce is the term describing the conducting of business through online channels, encompassing the outward-facing processes that touch suppliers, partners and customers, and including not just marketing communications but also sales, order taking, delivery, fulfillment and customer service.”
GOLD: Anewmum. Founder: Marian Kennedy (participated in the programme at MTU Cork Campus 2018). Anewmum has created postpartum self-care hygiene products that comfort and support new mothers.
Category: Emerge-Tech Startup
“Emerging technologies are perceived as capable of changing the status quo. Emerge-Tech industries include AI, information technology, wireless data communication, man-machine communication, on-demand printing, bio-technologies, and advanced robotics.”
GOLD: Sports Impact Technologies. Founder: Eoin Tuohy (participated in the programme at TU Dublin -Blanchardstown Campus 2020). Sports Impact Technologies has developed a sensor that monitors and reports any head impacts of a player to their coach, physio, or parent in real time.
SILVER: Druid Learning. Founder: Niamh Faller (participated in the programme at TU Dublin – Grangegorman Campus in partnership with IADT 2020) . The Druid Learning Enterprise content management tool transforms static and archived content, establishing an extensive digital repository for all your content assets. Prepare for AI by using your content to create training sets.
BRONZE: Agri Data Analytics Ireland. Founder: Jack Pilkington (participated in the programme at TUS – Athlone Campus in partnership with Maynooth Campus 2022). Agri Data strives to tackle the climate crisis through innovation in the agricultural sector, focused on reducing enteric methane emissions in line with Ireland’s COP26 pledge of a 30% reduction in methane by 2030. Agri Data Analytics Ireland is currently in the research and prototype development stage of creating a methane testing and monitoring unit called The Bovine Breathalyser which will record and process GHG emission levels produced by ruminant animals.
Category: Fintech Startup
“The rise of fintech has changed the way companies do business. This has opened up a world of possibilities. Businesses can offer more services than ever and for a fraction of the price of what it would have cost before.”
SILVER: Cytidel. Founder: Mathew Conlon (participated in the programme at ATU Galway and Mayo Campuses 2021). Cytidel helps security teams reduce breaches, save time, and stay secure. It offers vulnerability management, cyber risk management, and threat intelligence.
Category: Food and Drink Startup
“The Food and Drink industries play a major role in economic activity in Ireland with a wide-ranging impact on economic growth, employment, and local development.”
GOLD: BiaSol. Founder: Niamh Dooley (participated in the programme at TUS Athlone in partnership with Maynooth University – 2020). BiaSol is a range of milled grains with the ultimate zero-waste approach to reintroducing nutritional food back into the food chain.
SILVER: Well Spent Grain Ltd. Founder: Sunkyung Choi (participated in the programme at TU Dublin – Tallaght campus – 2022). Well Spent Grain is a food upcycling start-up based in Dublin, Ireland.
It collects brewer’s spent grain from local breweries and “spends it well” by creating high-quality and value-added food products such as snack bites.
SILVER: Wexbury Spirits. Founder: Mark Kavanagh (participated in the programme at SETU – Waterford Campus – 2022). Wexbury Spirits produces a range of vodka cream liqueurs made from Irish fruits.
Category: Medtech Startup
“Medtech is already diagnosing, monitoring and treating virtually every disease or condition that affects the human race. From sticking plasters to body scanners, ever more technologies are coming on stream to improve patients’ lives.”
GOLD: Gasgon Medical. Founder: Vincent Forde (participated in the programme at MTU Cork Campus – 2017). Gasgon Medical AirVault™ is a medical device developed by Gasgon Medical (Ireland), intended to remove air-in-line bubbles from intravenous (IV) infusion therapy.
Category: Product and Manufacturing Startup
“The Irish start-up scene may appear to be increasingly dominated by tech and service-focused companies but there’s still a huge market for product businesses.”
GOLD: Omuu Petfood. Founder: Frank Clarke (participated in the programme at DkIT in partnership with DCU – 2022). Omuu is a quality dog food designed by a leading Irish veterinarian. It’s a hypoallergenic dogfood based on insect protein that’s easy on sensitive stomachs and a sustainable product.
See the full list of regional and national winners on the National Startup Awards website. Congratulations again to everyone who took part.
