Starting a venture is a roller coaster of excitement and fear invigorating in equal parts. It demands bravery, inventiveness, confidence, commitment, tenacity, and positivity, well-balanced with practical business realism and a pinch of fortune.
Still, even amid this potent mix of traits, business owners and founders face substantial hurdles in ventures such as idea evolution, capital raising and successfully introducing a feasible product or service to consumers.
That’s when the crucial role of Enterprise Ireland comes to the fore. The institution provides essential guidance to entrepreneurs and their businesses from the preliminary steps of concept generation, seamlessly transitioning through commercialisation, securing funds, establishing overseas markets and more. The provided support is meticulously customised to the unique requirements of each client.
Every client working with Enterprise Ireland is allocated a dedicated development adviser who assists them in tackling the complexities, detours, and inevitable challenges that they encounter on their entrepreneurial journey. The adviser’s role is pivotal in establishing a key client relationship and guiding the entrepreneur on utilising the necessary resources.
Digital tools and utilities, prevalent in everyday life, are yet to become a standard in healthcare environments.
Cultivating Connections and Providing Support
The level of provided support may vary depending on the start-up’s specific nature. For instance, possible surrogate companies from tertiary education systems can benefit from a commercialisation fund to transform intellectual concepts into market-ready products and services. The preliminary start-up fund aids entrepreneurs in reaching critical technical and commercial benchmarks required to secure future seed investment. Many subsequently secure high-potential start-up (HPSU) funding, propelling their business’ operational plans with a dynamic blend of finance, networking and specialised knowledge.
“We offer mentorship, assist clients in preparing investment pitches, challenge their presuppositions to verify their market potential, and take part in funding ventures,” shares Anna-Marie Turley, head of entrepreneurial and HPSU operations at Enterprise Ireland. “Furthermore, we provide subsequent funding support, primarily targeting research and development to facilitate future growth and expansion. Additionally, the start-ups can tap into our global network spanning over 40 overseas offices to get in touch with potential international customers. We stand beside entrepreneurs at every stage, helping businesses establish, expand, scale, and achieve success in global markets.”
Smart tactics and well-integrated networks.
Anita Finnegan, the founder and CEO of Nova Leah, an information security solutions provider specialising in healthcare and skills spun from the Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), states that she has been on this journey for eight years with constant support from Enterprise Ireland. The spin-off from DKIT commenced as part of Finnegan’s doctoral research. Fiona developed a structure through her PhD, providing assurance to medical equipment manufacturers about the safety of their interconnected devices.
The involvement of Enterprise Ireland dates back to before the company’s inception. It supported this endeavour through the commercialisation fund which allowed Finnegan to shape the product, define the business model, create the business plan and evaluate the market potential. Since spinning out in 2016 under the name Nova Leah, the involvement of Enterprise Ireland has remained consistent, aiding in fundraising rounds and getting valuable guidance from the organisation’s development advisor and their Boston office that specialises in health provision.
The leading product of the company, SelectEvidence, leverages cutting-edge AI and machine learning technology to identify cybersecurity threats, weaknesses and required mitigation measures for medical devices. The second product, SelectEvaluate, was built with support from Enterprise Ireland’s disruptive technologies investment fund. It facilitates collaboration between healthcare providers and medical device manufacturers to manage and monitor cybersecurity risk related to connected healthcare devices.
The business is witnessing robust growth. Finnegan stated that it employs 20 professionals across Dundalk and Boston offices, and is strategising to target the European market with its second product. As part of the plans for expansion, Nova Leah is raising capital and intends to use the funds to strengthen its foothold in North America, potentially on the west coast, and to establish a sales and marketing team to cater to the European and UK markets.
Moving beyond Nova Leah, Akara Robotics, recognized for Irish-designed social robot Stevie, which featured on the cover of Time magazine, has now developed a disinfection robot for usage in healthcare setups and hospitals.
Niamh Donnelly, the leading robotics official and co-founder team member, sheds light on the stagnated methods of hospital cleaning that haven’t evolved in over a century since the Spanish Flu. Acknowledging the time-consuming and inefficient nature of these task, her focus shifted to UV light technology, which demonstrates superior performance in eradicating viruses and bacteria compared to conventional cleaning techniques. It is more rapid and effective. Traditional methods of sanitising a room used by an infected patient takes three hours. However, by leveraging technology, their team has developed a robot which reduces this time to a mere 15 minutes. The firm has secured a contract with a British NHS Trust and is engaged in procurement talks with an Irish hospital. The deployment of these robots is planned within the upcoming months.
Along the course of its journey, the firm has benefitted from the early support of Enterprise Ireland, particularly when navigating the challenging landscape for tech startups requiring funding. Grateful for the faith put into them by this first investor via the Commercialisation Fund, Donnelly appreciates not only the financial assistance, but also the impactful advice and knowledge tapping opportunities for activities such as fundraising boot camps.
Their primary focus is scaling operations in the American market. Enterprise Ireland has also facilitated their US expansion efforts, providing them crucial connections via their local offices. Donnelly singles out the assistance from the San Francisco office who aided their pitch event.
The Herdwatch CEO, Fabien Peyaud, has equated the farming management software solution his company offers as a combined essential and luxury product. He notes that Irish farmers are burdened with the extensive paperwork linked with recording medicinal usage, pesticide sprays and livestock movements, which is where Herdwatch steps in. Beyond easing this time-consuming process, the tool enhances efficiency. Peyaud likens it to a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for livestock, enabling tracking of every moment of an animal’s life.
Established in 2011, the firm was launched by Peyaud while he was still employed at the farmer-owned cooperative, FRS (Farm Relief Services). The challenging economic climate motivated the CEO to invite new business ideas from employees, revealing that 93% of farmers had no digital tools to manage their farming operations. This prompted Peyaud to create a solution.
In 2014, the Herdwatch platform was introduced to Ireland, with its use becoming widespread within a decade. Today, it is recognised as the leading livestock management software in both the UK and Ireland, utilised by 20,000 sheep and beef herds.
Enterprise Ireland has been crucial in the company’s global reach, offering assistance when it ventured into the UK market in 2016. They provided important contacts, show attendance, and continuous support, mainly for R&D projects. Despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic, they maintained their support. They currently collaborate with the firm on another R&D project.
The company’s workforce comprises 80 members as it persists in growing. They’ve identified a significant global market for their product and have begun penetrating the North American sector, an undertaking which requires a lot of effort. The approach has to be taken one ranch at a time rather than one farm, but initial feedback is optimistic.
According to Anna-Marie Turley, each step in a firm’s journey counts. She reiterated the grandeur of Enterprise Ireland’s offerings, stating they’re intended to aid businesses at every stage, including start-ups. Appropriate use of these provisions can boost growth, generate new goods and services, and increase global competitiveness.
Enterprise Ireland is preparing to host ‘Start-Up Day 2024’ at Dublin Castle. This annual invitation-only showcase is both a networking and investment event celebrating the milestones reached by businesses they supported in 2023. It also presents innovative businesses with potential to be spun out from research via Enterprise Ireland’s commercialisation programme.