From left: John Dunne, partner, PwC; winner Shane O’Sullivan, Glimpse; and John Lauder, chair, Bolton Trust. Image: Jason Clarke Photography
Three finalists on the hunt for up to €3.5m in investment.
Dublin start-up Glimpse has emerged as the winner of the 2019 Bolton Trust-PwC Innovation Award, picking up a €10,000 cash prize.
The winner, a recent graduate of the New Frontiers Programme at Technological University (TU) Dublin and IADT Dún Laoghaire, successfully convinced the judging panel that its venture represented the strongest potential for global expansion and return on investment.
‘Our 2019 global CEO survey highlighted that 85pc of CEOs believe that artificial intelligence will significantly change the way business is done in the next few years’
– FEARGAL O’ROURKE
Between them, the three finalists are on the hunt to secure €3.5m in investment.
A Glimpse at the future
Overall winner Glimpse, led by Shane O’Sullivan, has developed an adtech offering called Consensys, which analyses the demographic profile of visitors as they walk past digital advertising displays. It uses this information to display ads specifically targeted at the dominant demographic profile of viewers at that point in time.
The runners-up were Keith Curley of Gladcloud, an AI-based location marketing platform, and Patrick Liddy of UtilityAR, developing augmented-reality solutions for industry.
“Our awards aim to help highly innovative start-ups along the sometimes difficult road to securing investment,” explained John Lauder, chair of the Bolton Trust.
“Combined, our three shortlisted finalists this year were seeking in the region of €3.5m, and I am very glad to report that our three most recent winners have raised €4m since their success in the awards.”
The Bolton Trust Awards are open to teams who have completed Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers Programme at TU Dublin’s three campuses and at IADT Dún Laoghaire.
Since 2012, the programme has offered a support package of finance, training and workspace to more than 300 start-ups, which have gone on to secure more than €40m in equity investment and have created more than 1,000 jobs.
“Our 2019 global CEO survey highlighted that 85pc of CEOs believe that artificial intelligence will significantly change the way business is done in the next few years,” said Feargal O’Rourke, managing partner at PwC.
“The 2019 finalists have identified the opportunities that artificial intelligence and other technologies can bring to business, and this is at the core of their innovations. Technology and innovation is also at the core of PwC’s strategy to be the most technology-enabled professional services firm in Ireland. We are delighted to support Irish entrepreneurs through these awards and wish all of the candidates every success.”
