💡 The Next Step

Céad míle fáilte!

It might be the slower summer season for tech and business in Europe and North America – but not here at Irish Insights.

We’ve been cooking up ways to bring our global community closer together, and we’ve narrowed it down to two big ideas:

• Global Irish Tech Job Board – a central hub for roles at Irish-founded startups worldwide, plus homegrown companies hiring beyond our shores.

• Global Irish Founders Map – a digital map to help you find and connect with Irish founders in every corner of the globe. Here’s a prototype we’ve been tinkering with. Check out this prototype we managed to vibe code:

Both ideas could be powerful tools for connecting and strengthening the Irish tech diaspora.

We want your take. Which idea would you actually use? Which would you share with your network? And what features would make it indispensable?

Reply and let us know, or vote on the poll below – your feedback will shape what we build next.

Today’s dispatch takes 4 minutes 5 seconds to read. ⏩ Only got 10 seconds? Here’s what matters:

🌏 News From Abroad – Donegal founder turns down Silicon Valley for a $100K “startup nation” fellowship in Singapore, Dawn Meats drops €128M on New Zealand’s top lamb exporter, and Binarii Labs expands to the Middle East.

💸 Investment News – Veliu’s stealth-mode €3.4M raise headlines a busy week, alongside fresh moves in AI, climate tech, and cybersecurity.

🧠 Brain Food – Twelve sharp reads on Saipan’s return to the big screen, Ireland’s billion-euro tariff wish list, drone-powered farming, and the Celtic Interconnector finally plugging us into Europe.

One last thing… we recommend that you enjoy today’s edition online 👇

Enjoy ☕

NEWS FROM ABROAD
Irish founder turns down Silicon Valley to help build a $100K “startup nation” in Singapore

Most Irish tech founders dream of Silicon Valley. Hithesh Shaji just swerved it.

The Donegal-born entrepreneur has been awarded a $100,000 fellowship to help design and launch a “network state” – an experimental, blockchain-powered, AI-enhanced community being built from scratch just outside Singapore. Think: a startup… but the product is a country.

Shaji’s task is to help craft the tech infrastructure, governance systems, and community engagement models for this digital-first city. The idea is to bridge the ideals of decentralisation, crypto, and open-source collaboration with bricks, mortar, and legal frameworks that actually work in the real world.

He’s no stranger to unconventional plays. As co-founder and Head of Strategy at Algovera, he built decentralised AI tools for collaborative research. Before that, he launched Oak Digital Health to help surgery patients recover with remote care platforms. Now based in Singapore, he’s bringing that mix of web3 innovation and health-tech pragmatism to the boldest urban experiment in Asia.

“The world is at an inflexion point for how we build communities—digitally and physically,” Shaji says. “Creating a network state near Singapore is a chance to experiment with new forms of social, economic, and digital governance from the ground up.”

More stories you need to know 🔍

🇳🇿 Dawn Meats goes global with €128M New Zealand deal
Waterford’s Dawn Meats has agreed to acquire 65% of Alliance Group – New Zealand’s biggest sheep meat exporter – for €128 million. The move (pending approvals) creates a year-round supply chain across hemispheres and cements Dawn’s beef and lamb ambitions. Read more

🌍 Binarii Labs secures Middle East expansion deal
UCD spinout Binarii Labs has teamed with Jordan’s Trismart Group to distribute its blockchain-powered, zero-trust data security across the Middle East – targeting government, finance, and infrastructure. Read more

🇮🇪 Arab-Irish Business Summit returns
The 5th Arab-Irish Business Summit lands in Dublin’s Mansion House on Sept 18, bringing Irish and Arab business leaders together to boost trade and investment. Read more

🇬🇧 Karl Deeter’s AIF sells for €9M
Artificial Intelligence Finance, the mortgage and insurance platform built by Karl Deeter, has been acquired by Manchester’s Software Circle in a deal worth up to €9M. The team stays on to drive international growth. Read more

🇺🇸 EXL opens AI HQ in Dublin
EXL’s new International HQ and AI Lab will create 60+ jobs and position Ireland as a hub for analytics innovation. Read here

FUNDRAISING
♻️ Veliu banks €3.4M to bring AI trust to the second-hand market

Veliu isn’t talking much – yet – but the Dublin- and Milan-based fintech just pulled in €3.4 million while still in stealth mode.

Founded in October 2024 by Alessandro Ruffini (former CFO at Apple device refurbisher Senso) and Gianmaria Monteleone (founder of private investment group Younite Stars SpA), with Marco D’Ambros as CTO, Veliu is building an AI-powered platform to connect retailers, consumers, and professional buyers of pre-owned goods. The aim? Help people recover value from used items while making resale and reuse as seamless as buying new – all in service of the circular economy.

The July funding round drew serious international firepower. French VC Emblem led with €2 million, joined by Milan-based B Heroes (early investors in SpaceX), Italian asset manager Simon Fiduciaria (with €7 billion AUM), and four other backers. In total, seven investors bought into the vision before Veliu has even gone public with its product.

📌 Why it stands out:

• Connects three sides of the resale market – retailers, consumers, and pro-buyers – via AI

• Attracted high-profile European investors while still pre-launch

• Founding team blends tech, fintech, and circular economy expertise

Veliu’s keeping the details under wraps for now, but the strategy is clear: launch with a battle-tested platform, then scale across Europe’s booming second-hand market. The raise also underlines Dublin’s growing pull for cross-border capital – even at the earliest stages.

🔗 Read more on the Business Post

📰 Investment & Market Moves

🤖 Generative AI keeps breaking records – EY reports global VC investment in generative AI hit $49.2bn in H1 2025, but Irish startups are still fighting for a bigger slice of the pie. Read more

🌱 WakeUp Capital backs Irish climate & impact startups – Dublin-based impact investor secures anchor funding from Ireland’s Innovation Seed Fund to scale investments in early-stage ventures tackling climate, inclusivity, and wellbeing challenges across Ireland and Europe. Read more

🛡 Landmark Technologies invests €1.2M in cyber centre – New monitoring hub to boost Ireland’s cybersecurity capability and create skilled jobs. Read more

🍀 Enterprise Ireland backs startups with €27M in 2024 – State agency funding spanned AI, fintech, and climate tech, bolstering Ireland’s innovation ecosystem. Read more

🧠 BRAIN FOOD
Pill Pains, Legal Eagles, and Big Dublin PayDays

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

🔬 €16m all-island research boost – Funding lands for projects from Parkinson’s to cybersecurity, proving we can unite north and south… when there’s money involved. READ HERE

⚡ Plugging into Europe – The €1.62bn Celtic Interconnector starts cable-laying, linking Ireland to mainland Europe’s power grid for the first time. Finally, a French connection that’s not rugby. READ HERE

👩‍💼 Female CEOs fading – A sobering report shows fewer women leading Irish-listed firms, with calls for bold fixes before boardrooms become boys-only again. READ HERE

💽 Chipped away – YieldHub’s John O’Donnell thinks Ireland could do far more in the global semiconductor race. Spoiler: it’s not about Tayto factories. READ HERE

💰 Chamber’s billion-euro wish list – The British Irish Chamber wants a €1bn tariff support fund and a CGT cut in the next budget. Dream big. READ HERE

🎩 Fake lord, real fraud – An alleged Irish aristocrat accused of conning a Cork yacht club heads to trial in France. Netflix doc incoming? READ HERE

🔌 Data centre drain – YouTube exposé says our server farms are guzzling power and testing Ireland’s grid, despite the green promises. READ HERE

🚁 Drone over your dinner – BBC reports agri-tech drones are taking off in Irish farming, from crop checks to herding sheep. No licence for sheepdog redundancy yet. READ HERE

🛒 Retail tech to rule 2026 – Irish e-commerce and retail startups are making waves in AI, logistics, and payments, ready to cash in globally. READ HERE

🤖 NI’s AI cash machine – Northern Ireland’s AI sector banked £188m in 2024, and the growth curve isn’t slowing. READ HERE

🔍 Chips on the table – YieldHub boss doubles down on Ireland’s potential role in the EU chip strategy. Still no fab plants, though. READ HERE

💡 Glen Dimplex feels the heat – Shifting energy markets leave the appliance giant navigating financial headwinds. READ HERE

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