INFO AGENDA


Turning a medical device into a work of art is no mean feat, but Izzy Wheels is doing just that. Izzy Keane was born with Spina Bifida and growing up, was frustrated at the lack of options when it came to personalising her wheelchair. Older sister Ailbhe began designing wheel covers while studying design and after graduating, the sisters launched Izzy Wheels, a range of spoke guards. To date, funding, orders and awards are flooding in: “We were winners of Accenture’s Leaders of Tomorrow Award and won Enterprise Ireland’s Female Founders Competitive Start Fund of €50,000,” Ailbhe says. They were also the first Irish people to take over Instagram’s official account and have racked up 14 million views of their video. izzywheels.com


A simple alternative to costly e-commerce sites, the Pointy box can turn every shop into an online retailer. A plug-in device, it connects a barcode scanner and point of sale terminal via IoT technology and displays the store’s inventory on their Pointy page, allowing customers to find their nearest bricks and mortar stockist. “For many local retailers, keeping up with technology can feel like too much,” says Mark Cummins, co-founder and CEO of Pointy. “They don’t have the time or expertise to create digital stores. Pointy is solving that problem in a way that’s effortless for retailers.” Last September the company announced a $6 million Series A funding round with notable angel investors including Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Transferwise. pointy.com


The new names to know in the Irish start-up space


Like many good ideas, Scurri was born out of an unmet need. A cloud-based delivery management platform, it makes personal delivery simple by integrating parcel carriers and merchants, and the start-up was launched when CEO Rory O’Connor was trying to hunt down a service to ship alloys for his car. “I built the original concept around


Izzy and Ailbhe Keane


Mark Cummins


Charles Dowd


Rory O’Connor


to the instant transfer of data.”


providing consumers with cheaper deliveries by utilising excess capacity with shipping providers. However, we found over time the biggest demand was coming from e-commerce merchants.” The Wexford-based company has received $2.5 million to date in total equity funding and recently won a contract to integrate their carrier management platform with one of the UK’s largest e-commerce giants. scurri.co.uk


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“I started Voysis with the mission of helping companies create their own voice experiences.” So says Peter Cahill, founder and CEO of Voysis, an industry-specific out of the box voice-powered artificial intelligence platform. “There are a lot of players in the space, and they’re really good at tasks and administrative things but


Peter Cahill


if you’re an e-commerce brand or retailer, you want something that goes much deeper. We take a very specific approach for each vertical, to build custom integrations with their customer experiences.” The Dublin-based company has raised $8 million in funding and in September opened a third office in the UK, joining their Boston location. voysis.com


As we move closer to a cashless society, splitting a lunch bill or reimbursing for tickets can be a hassle. The Plynk app, which was co-founded in 2015 by Charles Dowd and Clive Foley, allows users to send money as a message with no fees. “Plynk was created in response to the need for an instant, effortless and transparent way to transfer money among friends,” Charles tells us. “The app removes the complexities and awkwardness associated with shared expenses, as well as the delays. It’s an app for the generation accustomed to the free and instant transfer of data on their mobile phone.” In June, the company raised €25 million in their Series A funding, making it one of the largest Series A investments in Ireland, and there are plans to localise the app in several languages and currencies over the next year. plynk.me


@DeanRoyGreen Ireland’s #innovation success ‘driven by enterprising state agencies’ says uachtarán Michael D Higgins @IDAIRELAND 12 INNOVATION IRELAN REVIEW


app for the generation accustomed


“It’s an


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