7 Startups Pitch for €6.5 million at CorkBIC Venture Academy

03 April, 2023

2022 Record year for AxisBIC Investors with Investment of €16.7million in Startups
Key Syndicates include Boole Investments in Cork & Irrus Investments in Limerick
Startups pitching from Medtech, Automotive, Remote learning, Retrofitting Houses, Personal Data & Automated reporting
Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Mr Neale Richmond TD attends AxisBIC Venture Academy
50 Investors Attend the AxisBIC Venture Academy

Sunday 2^nd April – AxisBIC welcomed over 50 Investors to Cork City to hear 7 Startups pitch for €6.5 million. The Startups came from various industries including Medtech, Automotive, Remote learning, Retrofitting Houses Personal Data & Automated reporting. Dr Paul Byrnes founder of DataMinfo was named the Most Investible Startup by a panel of Judges.

The Venture Academy™ is part of the Growth Pathway Programme which is run by AxisBIC with partners Cork City Council & Cork County Council.

To date the Growth Pathway initiatives have assisted 380 companies, creating 80 HPSUs, with 110 companies raising over €103million over the past 11 years.

2022 was a record Investment year in AxisBIC with Investment of €16.7million in Startups by Investors in the Southwest of Ireland. These Angel Investors came predominantly from Cork based Boole Investments and Irrus Investments in Limerick. The total invested on the island of Ireland by Angel Investors in 2022 in Ireland was €33million – half of which came from Investors in the Southwest of Ireland. The total investment raised (in the southwest) including VC and Enterprise Ireland was €50.5 million – a great year for Startups.

Angel Investment is a key element to ensuring the continued growth of Startups and Entrepreneurs. It is evident from the 2022 figures that Angel Investing is very strong particularly in the AxisBIC region.

Pictured: Martin Corkery, Enterprise Ireland; Shemas Eivers, Boole Investment Syndicate; Larry O'Donoghue, AxisBIC; Kate Popova Everywhere English; Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond TD; Becky Popova, Everywhere English and Dr Niall O'Keeffe, Cork City Council

Speaking at the Venture Academy Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond TD commented that “Cork is continuing to raise the bar as a hub for entrepreneurialism, scaling and investment. Some of Ireland’s most promising start-ups and scale-ups are located here, along with some of the world’s largest enterprises. This event demonstrates the value of the investment community to start-ups in Ireland.

Opening the Venture Academy Larry O’Donoghue, AxisBIC CEO said “It is great to see such passionate and innovative startups pitching today at the AxisBIC Venture Academy. Angel investment is has grown hugely in the Southwest region (with €16.7 million invested by Angels in the Southwest Region in 2022), bringing opportunities to investors and start-ups alike. It is particularly important, during times of uncertainty, that we buoy the start-up community to come up with solutions that make a real-world difference.”

The Pitching Companies were:

Akkure Genomics, Dr Oran Rigby
DataMinfo, Dr Paul Byrnes
Everywhere English, Kate & Becky Popova
Hibra Design, Michael Keane
Kids Speech Labs, Gordon D'Arcy
RetroKit, Xavier Dubuisson
Unbanx, Alan McDonald

About AxisBIC

AxisBIC is a private-sector led organisation, specifically set up to identify and build knowledge intensive companies based on promising technology and capable innovative people. It plays a hands-on role helping entrepreneurs navigate the minefield of raising finance, sorting out business propositions, arranging agreements with shareholders and investors, and, perhaps most important of all, finding customers.

Every year, AxisBIC identifies, selects and develops several high potential start-ups or expansions. At any one time, there are 40 or 50 projects in the pipeline. 85% of start-ups engaging in this integrated process survive after five years, far outstripping the international survival average of 50%. Over the past 30+ years AxisBIC has worked with over 500 start-ups, many of whom come back and re-engage.