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Struggle for Funding in the Irish Start-up Scene?
DIA Dispatch #13
👋 Welcome to the DIA Dispatch 📫, your weekly round-up of Irish-affiliated business and tech news from across the globe.
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In the ever-evolving world of Irish start-ups, one challenge looms large above all others: funding. 💰
Diving into Scale Ireland's latest State of Start-Ups Survey for 2024, a comprehensive study based on the experiences of 340 pioneering founders and CEOs. A clear picture emerges: 50.3% of these innovators identify funding as their primary obstacle. Even more telling, 78.8% find the quest for private capital challenging.
These findings reflect the sentiments of industry leaders like Patrick Collison, the co-founder of Stripe, whose recent valuation could fund a small country.
In a 2012 blog post, Collison highlighted the hurdles he would have faced launching Stripe in Ireland—a landscape with limited investment opportunities and a shortage of investors, especially compared to the vibrant US market. Over a decade later, Scale Ireland's report confirms similar challenges remain, painting a sobering view of the funding environment.
All investors aren’t created equal, and the investors a start-up is likely to want are much more likely to be in the US. It still makes sense for most Irish start-ups to raise money outside Ireland, and over the last few years, it seems that the most notable technology start-ups with Irish founders have chosen this path.
Éanna Kelly’s insightful analysis on Sifted sheds more light on the current landscape of the Irish start-up scene and its money challenges. The piece includes a recent interview with Dogpatch Labs CEO Patrick Walsh, who emphasises the scarcity of angel investors willing to support emerging ventures and cites it as a big barrier to funding.
Despite Enterprise Ireland's status as Europe's most active investor (an incredible achievement that deserves praise), its more procedural approach contrasts sharply with the agility of angel investors. This difference underscores how obstacles within funding streams can hinder growth by increasing the burden of due diligence.
Notably, Irish unicorns like Wayflyer, Intercom, and Fenergo have opted for backing from international investors, bypassing potential impediments.
Amidst the allure of international funding, it's tempting for Irish startups to set their sights beyond the horizon, chasing the promise of distant shores and foreign backers to solve their problems. But as the old saying goes, sometimes the grass isn't greener on the other side—it's just different.
Away from home, here are the biggest global Irish business and tech stories this week:
Risky Business: Dundalk Man Kevin Corbally's Journey to the Top of ANZ 🇦🇺 🇳🇿
GridBeyond raises $52M to grow AI energy tech to the US 🇺🇸 ⚡
UK Biotech company Ochre Bio signs a $1.3 billion deal with a German drugmaker 🇩🇪 💊
Kota announces a major expansion into the UK market with a new partnership 🇬🇧 🤝
Enjoy! ☕
Risky Business: Dundalk Man Kevin Corbally's Journey to the Top of ANZ 🇦🇺 🇳🇿
In recent years, the role of Chief Risk Officers (CROs) has significantly transformed. Once relegated to the sidelines, CROs now play a crucial role in modern banks, directly reporting to the CEO and overseeing financial and non-financial risks.
Corbally, as CRO at ANZ (one of the four big banks in Australia with a $85 billion market cap), he embraces this evolution, likening himself to a navigator steering the bank through turbulent waters.
ANZ CRO Kevin Corbally
Responsible for everything from office party mishaps to anticipating climate change impacts, CROs like Corbally must stay ahead of risks, including cyberattacks and regulatory compliance issues.
This dynamic landscape presents challenges and opportunities, prompting Corbally to spearhead initiatives that integrate risk management into all ANZ operations.
With a background honed at PwC, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank, Corbally brings a wealth of experience to his current position. Educated at the University of Galway and Macquarie University, he holds multiple degrees and is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Corbally maintains strong ties to his Irish roots, proudly supporting his hometown of Dundalk and embracing Australian culture through his AFL allegiance to the Melbourne Demons.
GridBeyond raises $52M to grow AI energy tech to the US 🇺🇸 ⚡
GridBeyond, CEO Michael Phelan
GridBeyond, headquartered in Dublin, has secured €52 million in Series C funding led by Alantra’s Energy Transition Fund, Klima. This funding will bolster its Grid Edge Virtual Power Plant (VPP) globally. Leveraging AI technology, GridBeyond optimizes energy assets such as demand response, storage, and renewables to pave the way for a zero-carbon future, emphasising expanding into the US market.
CEO Michael Phelan highlights the company's commitment to advancing global energy networks through digitalization, decarbonization, and decentralization. GridBeyond's AI platform bridges distributed energy resources and the power grid, unlocking new revenues and savings for asset owners and consumers while optimizing energy consumption.
With recent expansions, including team growth and the acquisition of Veritone Business Energy, GridBeyond anticipates further growth in 2024. This investment underscores confidence in GridBeyond's pivotal role in realizing a net-zero carbon future.
Biotech company, Ochre Bio signs a $1.3 billion deal with a German drugmaker 🇩🇪 💊
Ochre Bio Co-founder, Jack O’Meara
Jack O’Meara, an Irish entrepreneur and co-founder of biotech company Ochre Bio, has struck a $1.3 billion deal with German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim to explore treatments for chronic liver disease. Founded in 2019 in Oxford, Ochre Bio utilizes breakthroughs in genomics and computation to develop RNA therapies for liver diseases, aiming to increase donor liver supply and reduce cirrhosis complications.
By employing machine learning, Ochre Bio analyzes data from both healthy and diseased livers, enabling the design of tailored medicines tested on non-transplantable donor livers.
This innovative approach is poised to revolutionise liver disease treatment significantly. The collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim aims to identify regenerative targets to enhance liver self-repair capabilities, potentially preventing or reversing disease progression.
Previously backed by investors like Khosla Ventures, Ochre Bio has strong ties to Ireland through O'Meara's Irish heritage. Ochre Bio's breakthroughs underscore Ireland's growing prominence in biotech innovation, contributing to advancements in global healthcare.
Kota announces a significant expansion into the UK market with a new partnership 🇬🇧 🤝
Irish startup Kota, formerly Yonder, has announced a strategic partnership with health insurer Vitality, signalling its expansion into the UK market. Kota offers a cutting-edge platform for businesses to automate employee insurance and pension benefits. CEO Luke Mackey emphasises simplifying benefits management to revolutionise the employee experience.
With a successful €5 million seed funding round led by EQT Ventures, Kota is already making waves. This is further underscored by Mackey's inclusion in Forbes's' 30 under 30' list of European innovators.
The partnership with Vitality streamlines access to health insurance for businesses using Kota's platform, enabling them to prioritize employee health and productivity. Liam Kennedy, Vitality's director of key accounts, emphasizes the benefits of their collaboration, offering comprehensive health and wellbeing support to organizations.
For too long HR managers and employees have had to deal with frustrating and cumbersome processes to enable easy access to core benefits. We have been working closely with Vitality to deliver a powerful employer and employee experience that changes the game for benefits management.
This alliance marks a significant milestone for Kota as it redefines benefits management and expands its footprint in the UK and European markets.
🧠 DIA Brain Food
Here is your quick serving of Digital Irish-related wins, trends, events, media and resources that we think you’ll enjoy digesting 🍽️:
🦘 Moving to Australia? Check out this definitive guide from the Irish Times on how to make the move with your family
🇮🇪 Check out the “Irish Fintech Summit” in Dublin on Thursday, 16th May, at Croke Park.
🇳🇿 NZ Ag Needs Innovation To Stay Open For Business - Liz Shackleton, Irish CEO of Animal and Plant Health NZ
ℹ️ Discover 101 additional pieces of advice from Kevin Kelly, a renowned writer, photographer, conservationist, and founding executive editor of Wired magazine.
👴 Poet, Politician and President: Michael D. Higgins career montage
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