From left: Alan O'Herlihy of Everseen and Ronan Murray of Deloitte. Image: John Allen
AI company Everseen topped the 2020 list, which ranks Ireland’s fastest-growing technology firms.
Cork-based company Everseen, which develops computer vision and AI tech for some of the world’s largest retailers, has taken the top spot in the 2020 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards.
The annual awards rank Ireland’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies based on revenue growth over the last four years.
Reacting to the win, Everseen CEO Alan O’Herlihy said: “I’m thrilled to get this recognition of our company’s success.
“Our team has worked incredibly hard to support our customers and increase revenue and we’re proud of what we have achieved to date.”
The top three companies in the 2020 list are all new entrants to the ranking. Behind Everseen was Dublin-based Webio, which uses conversational AI to improve customer engagement.
In third place was ordering software company Flipdish, which saw strong growth this year as the pandemic drove demand for food orders. The Dublin-headquartered business announced earlier this month that it had hired nearly 100 new staff this year and plans to hire a further 200 next year.
‘Irish tech companies have truly outdone themselves’
Together, the full list of Fast 50 winners generated around €3.3bn in total annual revenues in 2019 and employed more than 4,600 people.
The 2020 list includes 32 companies based in Leinster, 11 from Ulster and eight from Munster. There were 13 new companies in the ranking compared to last year.
David Shanahan, partner at Deloitte, said the annual awards aim to “celebrate the incredible innovation and entrepreneurship displayed by Irish tech companies”.
“It is inspiring to see the countless examples of companies who, over the last year, have demonstrated resilience, innovated, adapted and thrived in the face of uncertainty and new challenges,” he added.
“Irish tech companies have truly outdone themselves this year. Special congratulations to Everseen, who have hit the top rank on the Fast 50 shortlist on their first appearance, with phenomenal growth over the past four years.”
In addition to the Fast 50 list, there were also a number of special awards given this year. The Alumni Award recognises a company that has played a major part in the Fast 50 programme to date. It was given to Tommy Kelly, CEO of eShopWorld, the e-commerce company that retained the number-one spot on the list from 2015 to 2017.
The Innovative New Technology Award in association with Google was given to Everseen, and the Impact Award in association with Facebook was given to mental health start-up SilverCloud Health, which raised €14.7m in funding earlier this year.
Finally, the Women in Technology Advocate Award in association with Vodafone was given to Vicki Reynolds, CTO of i3PT Certification.
The full Fast 50 list can be seen here.
