From left: Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland; Heidi Davis, CEO of Peri; and Darren O'Reilly, founder of WholeSupp. Image: © Shane O'Neill, Coalesce
Four of the nine finalists for the HPSU Founder of the Year Award have already been selected through various pitching events held earlier.
The sixth annual Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-up (HPSU) Founder of the Year Award will take place this year on 17 October in Dublin, crowning one out of the 67 HPSUs who took part in this year’s Founders Forum.
The Founder of the Year Award is a culmination to the HPSU Founders Forum that offers business founders of seed-funded Enterprise Ireland client companies an opportunity to strategise and scale-up their businesses internationally.
“The Founder of the Year Awards promotes Ireland’s ecosystem of entrepreneurs who have displayed the potential and commitment to building their businesses and realising their global ambition,” said Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland.
“We are delighted to build on the success of the Awards which is now in its sixth year, and the Founders Forum which acknowledges and celebrates high-performance, innovative Irish start-ups.”
The awards will whittle down 67 HPSUs to nine, who will then pitch to a panel of judges – with three making it to the finals. Four of the nine finalists have already been selected through various pitching events held earlier.
WholeSupp
Whole Supp is a Dublin-based nutritional supplements firm that was founded in 2022 by Darren O’Reilly, a former professional rugby player, and Dr Brian Carson. Raising €600,000 to date, the start-up has developed a high-protein and nutritionally complete shake.
The business has grown to having more than 10,000 customers and is now branching out to work with retailers to expand its clientele.
Peri
Rebranding as Peri next year, identifyHer, founded in 2022 by Heidi Davis and Donal O’Gorman in 2022, uses AI-enabled technology to personalise the management of menopausal symptoms. It can also help users to reduce the risk of disease in the future.
The tracker developed by identifyHer is designed to ensure users can regularly update how they are affected by their symptoms, providing physicians with a more accurate reading of their health when at scheduled visits.
Nua Surgical
Nua Surgical is a Galway-based medtech company developing solutions in obstetrics and gynaecology. The firm, based at the Innovation Hub in Atlantic Technological University in Galway, was founded by Barry McCann, Marie-Therese Maher and Padraig Maher in 2019.
The start-up has developed a hands-free device for caesarean sections, called the SteriCision c-section retractor, becoming the only non-US start-up to be selected to participate in 51 Labs, an accelerator aimed at addressing the issue of maternal mortality in the US.
Capella
Hybrid working software provider Capella was founded by Criona Turley and Victoria Yanakos in 2020. The company has raised €600,000 to date and expects to close a €2m funding round by the end of the year as it targets a US expansion.
The Dublin-based Enterprise Ireland-backed start-up helped businesses address the sudden transition to remote and hybrid working that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic and has continued to offer work-from-home solutions.
Capella offers ergonomic training for remote working and tools such as hot desk support for hybrid offices.
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