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Now let’s get down to business, this is what we have in store for you this week:

• Ireland’s Economic Miracle Faces Trump’s Tax Threat 🇺🇸

• Irish Founders Raise $4M for StepChange Labs to Transform Tech Monitoring 🇺🇸

• XOCEAN making waves 🏄

• We cover 6 Irish companies that raised a cool €17 million in funding. 🚀

• Impress your friends with the latest Irish brain food stories. 🧠

Enjoy ☕️

Ireland’s Economic Miracle Faces Trump’s Tax Threat 🇺🇸

Ireland’s rise as a global hub for tech and pharma giants is nothing short of an economic miracle. At the heart of this success is its 12.5% corporate tax rate, which has attracted multinationals like Apple, Google, and Pfizer. Corporate tax revenues have surged from €4.3 billion in 2013 to €24 billion in 2023, funding record public spending, a sovereign wealth fund, and a dramatic cut in national debt.

But this success story now faces a serious challenge.

Trump’s Tax Gambit

Donald Trump’s return to the White House threatens Ireland’s economic model. His previous administration targeted U.S. companies operating abroad, pulling out of a global tax deal and accusing countries like Ireland of unfairly benefiting from U.S. corporate taxes. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has doubled down, calling Ireland’s tax practices a drain on America’s wealth.

The stakes couldn’t be higher: just three multinationals account for over one-third of Ireland’s corporate tax revenue. A push to repatriate profits risks not only slashing tax income but also disrupting thousands of jobs.

🎲 What’s at Risk?

• Tax Revenue Dependency: Ireland’s €24 billion corporate tax windfall underpins vital public services and infrastructure. Losing this funding would create a major fiscal gap.

• Economic Reliance on U.S. Companies: Over 1,000 U.S. firms operate in Ireland, making them critical to jobs and investment. Any policy shift in the U.S. could ripple across Ireland’s economy.

• Global Reputation: Ireland’s position as a leader in foreign direct investment could weaken if Trump’s policies undermine its appeal.

💬 Ireland’s Response: Adapt or Falter

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has emphasized Ireland’s strong ties with the U.S. but acknowledged the challenge. To safeguard its economy, Ireland must:

1. Diversify Economic Drivers: Strengthen indigenous industries and high-growth sectors like renewables and medtech to reduce reliance on multinationals.

2. Defend Tax Competitiveness: Navigate global tax reforms while maintaining its edge as a business-friendly destination.

3. Bolster EU Relationships: Ireland’s position as the EU’s only English-speaking member post-Brexit allows it to deepen ties and attract new investment.

🖼️ Our Opinion: A Way Forward

Ireland’s economic miracle wasn’t built on tax policy alone. It was built on talent, adaptability, and ambition. To weather this storm, Ireland should double down on its strengths: a highly skilled workforce, a proven track record of innovation, and a pragmatic approach to economic policy.

Trump’s presidency may test Ireland’s model, but history shows that Ireland thrives under pressure. The real question isn’t whether Ireland will adapt—but how it will emerge stronger.

Irish Founders Raise $4M for StepChange Labs to Transform Tech Monitoring 🇺🇸

Great news from Silicon Valley! StepChange Labs, founded by Irish engineers Niall O’Higgins and Harry Tormey, has raised $4 million in seed funding to grow its AI-powered monitoring platform, APX (Application Performance Xcellerator). The funding round was co-led by Kindred Ventures and The General Partnership, with additional support from Ritual Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures.

What is StepChange Labs?

StepChange Labs is tackling a problem faced by engineering teams everywhere: how to handle performance issues and high observability costs without slowing down development. Their platform, APX, uses AI to automatically detect and fix performance problems, freeing up engineers to focus on building great products instead of troubleshooting.

Meet the Founders

• Niall O’Higgins (CEO): Former Coinbase engineer who saw the frustrations of traditional monitoring tools and wanted to create something better.

• Harry Tormey (CTO): Another Coinbase alum, Harry’s focus is on building smarter tools that make engineers’ lives easier.

The duo’s experience at Coinbase showed them how much time and effort goes into managing performance issues, so they built APX to solve this for teams everywhere.

What’s Next?

With this funding, StepChange Labs plans to:

✅ Expand their team and operations.

✅ Improve APX to help even more engineering teams.

✅ Make it easier for companies to fix performance issues without wasting resources.

A big congratulations to Niall and Harry—two Irish innovators proving yet again the global impact of Irish talent.

XOCEAN Making Waves 🏄

An Irish company focused on sustainable ocean data solutions has secured €115 million in funding to support its global expansion. 😲😲

Founded in 2017, XOCEAN is changing the way ocean data is gathered. It uses uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) to collect precise geophysical information. XOCEAN's operations are highly eco-friendly, producing just 0.1% of the carbon dioxide emissions of traditional survey ships. This approach reduces costs and time and supports efforts to combat climate change.

XOCEAN was established by CEO James Ives, driven by the lack of accessible ocean data in the marine industry. With the offshore wind sector expected to exceed 250 GW by 2035, the need for reliable ocean data is skyrocketing. XOCEAN is meeting this demand, working with major companies such as BP and Shell and collecting 4.9 million gigabytes of data across 22 regions.

As XOCEAN moves forward, it is set to play an important role in the global blue economy by providing vital data to support cleaner energy projects and environmental sustainability. With a focus on advanced technology and meaningful partnerships, XOCEAN is helping to create a more sustainable future for the world’s oceans.

💰 That money was just resting in my account…

A massive congratulations to the Irish-affiliated businesses that have achieved an impressive total of €17 million in recent fundraising victories 🥂

🖥️ StepChange Labs (Co-Founders: Niall O’Higgins, Harry Tormey) has raised $4 million in seed funding to grow its AI-powered monitoring platform, APX (Application Performance Xcellerator).

⚽ Precision Sports Technology (Founder: Emma Meehan) develops software that provides real-time feedback and analysis on exercise techniques. They secured €1M in a pre-seed funding round to enhance their technological offerings.

🛍️ Advise (Founders: John Phelan, Kevin McCarthy) is an analytics tool designed for leaders in the consumer goods industry. The company raised €1.55M in a seed funding round to expand its capabilities and market reach.

📊 Dataships (Founders: Michael Storan, Ryan McErlane) focuses on data privacy software and services, particularly automating GDPR and CCPA compliance. They completed a Series A funding round, raising €6.8M to bolster their operations and product development.

🍔 FoodCloud (Founders: Aoibheann O’Brien, Iseult Ward) is a social enterprise that connects businesses with surplus food to local charities and community groups in Ireland. They received a grant of €75,000 to support their mission of reducing food waste.

💉 Biomimetic Innovations specializes in synthetic biomaterial technology for medical devices. They recently raised €4M in a corporate funding round to further their innovative solutions in the healthcare sector.

🧠 Brain Food

Here is your quick serving of Irish Insights-related wins, trends, events, media and resources that we think you’ll enjoy digesting 🍽️:

🇨🇳 How Chinese AI Startup DeepSeek Made a Model that Rivals OpenAI READ HERE

📉 Chief economists expect global economic conditions to weaken in 2025 READ HERE

🎥 Netflix raises prices as it posts record subscriber growth in fourth-quarter earnings READ HERE

🗳️ How has the political landscape shifted since the general election? WATCH HERE

🇺🇸 Trinity campus company Sonitus Systems acquired by US-based CogneSense READ HERE

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