Andrew Lynch. Image: Huckletree
Huckletree’s new hub in The Oval, Ballsbridge, will be open by the end of the year. The co-working operator and accelerator has plans to open additional hubs in Oslo and Manchester.
Today (19 September), Huckletree co-founder and Dublin native Andrew Lynch revealed that the co-working space operator and accelerator would be opening three new hubs, with offices in Dublin, Oslo and Manchester.
The new Irish space will be a fintech co-working hub, located in The Oval in Ballsbridge, and will open at the end of the year. Huckletree also plans to promote the fintech space globally.
In a statement, the company said: “The ambition for the fully equipped 23,500 sq ft space is to be a leading European base for the global financial technology ecosystem, connecting the largest financial services firms in the world with exciting Irish start-ups, scale-ups and investors.”
By the end of this year, Huckletree plans to welcome 2,000 new members to its communities across Europe.
Huckletree in Ireland
The accelerator opened its first Irish home in 2017 in The Academy Building on Pearse Street. This co-working space is now home to 40 companies, 50pc of which are Irish-founded.
“I’m excited to see us bring a global fintech hub to life in Dublin,” Lynch said. “We have seen first-hand the success of focused hubs such as Level39 in London, Lhoft in Luxembourg and Stone & Chalk in Sydney, and we felt compelled to create a centre of excellence that can bring entrepreneurs together and showcase Ireland’s thriving ecosystem to the world.”
‘Our hope is that this becomes a true town hall for all fintech players and an academy for future global success stories’
– ANDREW LYNCH
The Huckletree co-founder noted that there’s an abundance of fintech talent in Ireland, and a new generation of founders who are thinking global from day one.
“What’s missing is a place where all of these fintech players can work, collaborate and do business under one roof and get on with it”, Lynch explained. “Today we are excited to announce plans for a space that can match that brave ambition and give these companies the physical platform, infrastructure, social community and confidence to internationalise and scale to unicorn status.”
Lynch said he is “heartened” by the continued support from the Irish Government through strategies such as Ireland For Finance 2025 and the continued efforts of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA.
“Our hope is that this becomes a true town hall for all fintech players and an academy for future global success stories,” Lynch added.
“We will be vetting applications for the next few months and look forward to welcoming our first members at the end of the year and becoming part of D4’s nascent tech scene alongside our neighbours IBM, Tableau Software and Survey Monkey – and Facebook in 2020.”
Leo Clancy, head of technology at IDA Ireland, added: “Ireland is currently seeing two of its biggest industries in financial services and technology converge in a vibrant new fintech sector. This space will add to the new fintech ecosystem and create space for both of these sectors to innovate.”
Earlier this week, general manager of Huckletree Dublin Aislinn Mahon told Siliconrepublic.com about her experience working with start-ups and some of the biggest mistakes that founders make.
