Rory O'Connor

Next.js 15 RC Now Available I've made a short post with the highlights: https://lnkd.in/eCd5CPDP

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📣 I am incredibly proud of Venturebeam for reaching a milestone moment so soon after our launch! It’s deeply gratifying to see everyone's hard work at Venturebeam paying off, (especially Rossa Malone David Havlin) enabling us to successfully drive capital to impactful and high-performing companies like XOCEAN. This is just the beginning of our exciting visionary journey. We are driving capital to many more innovative, impactful & high performing companies. 🌟💡 Hint: We are now working on an exciting co-investment opportunity in the AI | Built environment | Proptech | Smart city space from Asia. This company is experiencing rapid growth, with a 2.9X increase and operations in 10 cities across three continents 🚀 🚀 #impact #impactinvesting #blueeconomy #ventureinvesting

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Dear all, TechIreland's Startup Funding Review 2024 Edition was out recently. - #StartupFunding dropped from €1.3B (2022) to €847M (2023) - A record 403 Irish companies fundraised, up from 279 (2022) - <€5M rounds up from 224 (2022) to 271 (2023) - >€5M rounds down from 47 (2022) to 28 (2023); total deal-value down 50% - Sectors: Energy (€377M), Health (€275M), FinTech (169M) - 140 Co's from Regions outside Dublin raised a total €222M - 35 NI Co's raised a record €117M - Female Founder Funding dropped from €234M (2022) to €93M (2023) - Irish women-founded startups No.1 in Europe for # of rounds per capita Thanks to our expert contributors for making the report. Key comments; - Reflects international funding environment that saw 38% drop - John O'Dea - 2022 2023 worst years since.. ; seeing the start of a bottoms-up recovery - Brian Caulfield - Depsite challenges, record # of startups raised funding - Ireland Strategic Investment Fund - The Irish ecosystem continues to produce balanced teams, good ideas - Donnchadh Cullinan - Public funding.. instrumental.. for startups - Shane O'Hanlon - Ireland's fall in VC largely in line with European levels - Orla Browne - Strong regional showings in Cork and Galway - Ian Browne - must correct.. the lack of locally sourced scaling finance - Sarah-Jane Larkin - robust M&A activity characterised by high value M&A deals - Fergal McAleavey - we were fortunate to have existing investors willing to follow-on - Chris Murphy - Invest Northern Ireland's Founder Lab accelerator widely anticipated - Drew O'Sullivan Enterprise Ireland <>IDA Ireland<> InterTradeIreland <>Google Paddy Flynn Sheila Harte Shauna Kenny Tom Early Patrick O' Regan Aoife Morrin Helen McBreen Faye Walsh Drouillard Damien McConville Philipp Maucher Juliet Tennent Ed O'Riordan Dealroom.co Irish Venture Capital & Private Equity Association NDRC HBAN Bluedrop Medical EY

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Irish Tech Update June 2024 MarketSizer Data-Driven Decisions®: SaaS start-up raises €1m in pre-seed funding from Delta Partners to enhance market trend data analysis. Lynq: AI-powered workspace for venture and private equity investors secures $2 million in pre-seed investment. Stripe: Co-founder John Collison suggests future employee share cash-outs amid IPO speculations. CleverCards: Digital payments company raises €8m, reaching a total of €28m in funding, continuing its global expansion. AccountsIQ: Cloud accounting platform secures €60m Series C funding to expand its AI offerings and double its workforce. Apple: Plans to acquire new office space in Dublin to house hundreds of additional staff, supporting further expansion. XOCEAN: Ocean data firm raises €30m in Series B funding to support hiring and growth, especially in domain-specific roles. North American Bancard: Announces the creation of 54 new jobs in Limerick, focusing on product development and risk management. Overcast HQ: GenAI-powered video asset management startup raises $1.2m to expand its team and enhance product development. VEI Global Ltd: Invests €2m to create 20 new engineering jobs over the next 18 months amid strong growth in the US and Europe. Monzo Bank: UK neobank announces plans for an Irish office following its first annual profit, marking a significant step in its EU expansion. Drop a comment if you have seen any other developments or market event s

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🚀🔧🌟 3 days to go 🌟🔧🚀 Are you grappling with tech troubles? Struggling to decipher cryptic error messages? Fear not! The Techie Problem Solver is swooping into Belfast like a digital superhero! 🦸‍♂️ 📅 Date: Tuesday, 14th May ⏰ Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM 📍 Location: 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast What can you expect? 1. Expert Guidance: Our tech-savvy wizardry will demystify jargon, untangle cables, and decode those pesky blue screens. 2. Hands-On Help: Bring your laptops, phones, and gadgets—we'll troubleshoot together! 3.. Community Bonding: Connect with community and swap tips. Whether it's a weird error message, a frustratingly slow device or you need to learn more about your device, Vivian's got your back. 🤝 See you there #belfast ! 🎉🔍🔌

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MarketSizer Data-Driven Decisions® recognised at Enterprise Ireland's 2024 Startup Showcase 👏🏼 📍 Dublin Castle, May 2024 – MarketSizer.io was recognised as part of the Class of 2023 at Enterprise Ireland's 2024 Startup Showcase recently. I'm proud to say that this is the second startup backed by Enterprise Ireland in which I've been involved, founded or co-founded, and I'm looking forward to driving similar success, growth, and job creation with this new venture 🚀 💡 With critical funding from the Pre-Seed Start Fund in the second half of 2023, MarketSizer.io has advanced its technology and expanded its reach, underscoring our commitment to driving data-driven business decisions and helping us prepare for our next major milestone, which we look forward to announcing in the coming weeks. Enterprise Ireland's own Success and Impact during 2023. Enterprise Ireland's commitment to fostering innovation and supporting startups has significantly impacted Ireland and its businesses. In 2023 alone: - 💰 €24 million was invested in startups, bolstering innovation and economic growth. - 🚀 85 High Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs) were approved for €17.5 million in funding, supporting export-focused businesses. - 🌟 156 early-stage companies received support through HPSU and Pre-Seed funding, showcasing a robust pipeline of promising enterprises. - 👩‍💼 31% of HPSUs were female-led, highlighting Enterprise Ireland's dedication to diversity and inclusion. - 🏆 The introduction of the Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF) saw 70 companies receive up to €100,000 each, enabling early-stage startups to develop their potential. Enterprise Ireland's initiatives have solidified Ireland's reputation as a hub for international trade and innovation, driving sustainable solutions to global challenges. We look forward to providing an update on our latest collaboration with Enterprise Ireland in the coming weeks as we prepare to scale over the next 18 months. Stay tuned for more exciting developments. What makes this journey extra special (and if I'm honest, daunting at times) is that I turned 50 in March and have an AD⚡HD brain 🧠. That's why at MarketSizer, we take a neurodivergent approach to what we're building and to our team itself. For more on how Enterprise Ireland supported #GlobalAmbition by backing a number of innovative Irish Startups during 2023, see the attached report. Leo Clancy , Anna-Marie Turley, Donnchadh Cullinan, Niall Diffley, Mairead McTigue, Damien McCarney #EnterpriseIreland #Funding #Growth #Technology #Business #DublinCastle #EI2024 #GlobalAmbition #Entrepreneurship #StartupShowcase2024 #DublinCastle #MarketSizer #ClassOf2023 #Startups #ADHD #NeuroDivergent

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Struggling to make sense of market trends for your SaaS product? Congratulations to MarketSizer Data-Driven Decisions® on their impressive €1m pre-seed funding round! Their innovative approach to sales intelligence is a game-changer in our industry. With the backing of Delta Partners, Enterprise Ireland, and angel investors, MarketSizer is set to revolutionize how companies leverage data to optimize growth and identify opportunities. Exciting times ahead for Niall O'Gorman and the entire team! #SaaS #DataDriven #Innovation #TechGrowth #MarketTrends

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It's time for a 99 and some reflection! Summer is here and the temperature is rising. This is an opportunity to improve business processes. Most decisions to change software are down to poor implementation and being sold a solution that is not what the business needs. For many successful Irish businesses, the software decisions are right the business is continuing to evolve and the business processes need to be agile like the business. Sometimes an external set of eyes can throw light on issues that seem bigger than they are. An independent software consultant with over 25 years of experience could shine a light on these issues and give simple fixes for them or help you navigate your way to a software solution that is fit for purpose. Reach out for a chat about what options are available to your business, it's good to talk!

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I've been getting a lot of questions around what our startup does; so here’s a very brief explanation as to why we are building Recruitroo, who for, and what we have achieved so far. Labour shortages have gotten extremely bad here in Ireland and in Europe and were also exacerbated by Covid. We now have understaffed hospitals & healthcare facilities, massive construction demand with not enough labour to fulfil it, and staffing shortages across many more critical industries; couple this with an aging demographic and we are going to have a difficult problem to pull ourselves out of. There’s a plethora of reasons as to why this is all happening but it’s clear to see Ireland and Europe will need to rely on skilled inward migration as a way forward. The problem for businesses is that attempting to hire outside the EU is a seriously complex and expensive process. Everything from finding and assessing candidates in other countries, to dealing with all the paperwork in the immigration process and then making sure they get set up correctly here in Ireland. That’s why we are building Recruitroo, to simplify international recruitment. Our product has been out in the ether for the past few months and we now have just under 10k jobseekers on the platform, the majority of the permit and visa processes automated for Ireland, and a neat dashboard to manage and track it all, as well as a host of other features to make the initial move for your new employees to Ireland easy. From our testing with clients and comparing us to using traditional overseas recruiters and migration services we have taken the total admin time associated with completing a full international recruitment & immigration workflow from around 9 hours per employee to just 1, while offering it for a 1/3rd of the typical price, all with higher success rates. This allows business owners/C-suite, HR & Talent teams to now easily deal with all the work associated with their international hires and to now be able to look outside the EU for their staffing needs. We have launched a new website (www.recruitroo.com) and a new explainer video so please check them out. A favour – If anyone knows of COO’s, Heads of HR, Directors of Talent, etc. (in Ireland or UK) who are trying to go down this international hiring route; could you please mention to them what we are doing here at Recruitroo. Massive thanks to all the team for everything you have achieved so far (Andrew, Caroline, Elif, John, Jack, Katherine, Shane & Andreea) #HRTech #GlobalMobility #InternationalRecruitment IGNITE UCC RDI Hub NDRC Enterprise Ireland Delta Partners VC UCC Innovation

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How do you build a 95 billion dollar behemoth and the 4th most valuable private company in the world with just seven lines of code? 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗲 💳✨ How Patrick Collison and John Collison, two brothers from a small Irish village, built a Startup that processed more than 1 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙨 and makes more than 3 𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙨 in net annual revenue. Today, there are over 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝟰𝟲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 that use Stripe to accept payments. If you want to know more about how the Collison brothers went from seven lines of code to building /𝗱𝗲𝘃/𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 (Stripe's initial name) then check out this week's story on BlackBird Startup Stories in the first comment below 🔗👇

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🌐 Empower your business with a robust digital presence. In the world of small businesses, microbusinesses are the smallest of the small – and typically employ between one to nine employees. But despite their small scale, microbusinesses play a critical role to the Irish economy – and daily life. As a microbusiness owner, having a strong online and digital presence can enable you to be more targeted, efficient and cost-effective in speaking with your customer base. However, knowing where to start or how to improve can be daunting, especially for owners with limited experience, time or resources. This e-book, will show you how to set the foundation for a good digital marketing strategy, build and execute your digital plan and how to measure your digital plan’s success. Download now ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eCbNudpb

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If you’re curious to learn more about the NDRC #StartupSprint on May 18th then join Andy McManagan at our Ask Me Anything session. Check out the details below 👇🏻

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🚀 Empowering Partners at the FY25 Tech Strategy Day with Kainos 🚀 Yesterday, we had an exhilarating day at the Partner Tech Strategy Day for FY25, hosting one of our fantastic partner, Kainos in the Microsoft Dublin Office. The event was a melting pot of insights, discussions, and forward-looking conversations. 🔒 Security First: From zero-trust architectures to threat intelligence, we explored how partners are safeguarding businesses against evolving cyber threats. 📈 BizApps Unleashed: We delved into the world of business applications (BizApps). We discussed the latest enhancements in Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and how these tools are driving digital transformation for organizations worldwide. 🤖 AI and Beyond: The afternoon buzzed with excitement as we explored artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Kainos shared their success stories. 🌐 Global Impact: The Tech Strategy Day wasn’t just about technology—it was about impact. We celebrated the role of partners in shaping industries, driving innovation, and creating positive change globally. 👏 A huge shout-out to Kainos for their active participation, thought leadership, and commitment to excellence. Let’s continue pushing boundaries together! 🌟 #MicrosoftPartners #TechStrategy #Innovation #Collaboration #Technology #Growth Palanikumar Annamalai Kirillos Akram Denis Condon Martina Naughton Clare Hillis David Power Grace Rogers Martin O'Neill Kevin Bushe Jing X.

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Last week, our Director of Business Development, Oliver Lynch, attended the "𝗔𝗜 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱" panel at the Dublin Tech Summit. The session provided invaluable insights into ethical considerations and open-source initiatives shaping AI's future. The panel discussed challenges like bias, privacy, transparency, and accountability in AI, and highlighted open-source initiatives for promoting transparency and collaboration. Advancements like explainable AI and its potential impact across sectors were also explored. At Engineering Insights, we are actively incorporating these principles into our projects, ensuring that our AI solutions are both innovative and responsible. 💡𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 👇 #DublinTechSummit #AIEthics #OpenSourceAI #ResponsibleInnovation #EngineeringInsights

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Attention Laois SMEs! Don't miss out on this chance to transform your business with AI. 🌟 Google has launched an exciting new resource to help you leverage artificial intelligence for your business - developed in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices. Introducing the 'Get ahead with AI' module, now available through Google’s digital upskilling initiative, 'You’re the Business'. It includes free, on-demand training, educational resources, and tools tailored for effective AI utilization. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eCpvB8zs WHY DO IT? If you are a small business owner with multiple tasks begging for your attention, you could significantly boost productivity not just in manufacturing but also in the service sector and your marketing and admin too! Get a virtual "extra pair of hands"! Check out 'Get ahead with AI' and start your journey towards becoming a frontrunner in AI! 🚀💼

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“The Use of Finance as a Catalyst to a develop a Scaling Ecosystem”, the report from Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Per the report ….The scaling funding gap in irish market - “Using the Deep tech sector as an example, data from Pitchbook and British Business Bank suggests that there is a need for more than £300 million worth of investment at series A and more than £1 billion at series B in order for Ireland to achieve some degree of parity with the UK.” Hopefully ScaleUp Steering Committe will explore interesting ways to (A) look at potential of all-island of Ireland scaling finance solutions (B) incentivise the FDI multinationals to invest in a local Fund of Funds (C) Explore implementation of similar model to VCT trust (UK) - which allows for private participation and liquidity (wrt secondary market possibilities) in the scaling space and also stimulates local stock market listing/activity. Summary of report recommendations: Recommendation 1: Ensure that scaling finance is available by introducing and promoting funds that will provide scaling finance options to founders and startups Recommendation 2: Investigate options for pension fund and institutional investor (including FDI multinationals) participation in scaling equity funds and encourage corporate venturing in Ireland. Recommendation 3: Review the State’s tax model and design instruments that incentivise investment into scaling companies. InterTradeIreland Scale Ireland Business Post Charlie Taylor Catalyst Invest Northern Ireland TechIreland Enterprise Ireland Irish Venture Capital & Private Equity Association National Treasury Management Agency European Investment Fund (EIF) The Currency European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) AxisBIC WestBIC Propelor BIC (the new name for South East BIC) Furthr Dogpatch Labs RDI Hub Goodbody Endeavor Ireland AwakenAngels HBAN

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