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We look at some of the partnerships struck this week by sci-tech start-ups in Ireland that are making waves on foreign shores.
It has been a busy week for Irish start-ups and early-stage companies.
Here, we look at some of the many that companies based in Ireland have entered into, ranging from collaborations with big banks and payment platforms, to international product launches and efforts to stop global human trafficking.
Circit
Circit, an Irish start-up that has developed a platform for managing financial auditing used by banks, solicitors and brokers, signed a deal earlier this week with Danske Bank UK.
The deal will integrate Circit’s tech with the bank’s audit confirmation response operations. It is expected to help streamline communication of data between Danske Bank and hundreds of auditing and professional firms that use Circit to verify client assets and liabilities at banks around the world.
Founded in 2017, Circit is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as an account information service provider under PSD2, the EU regulation for open banking. It raised €1.1m in a funding round in July 2020 and acquired UK business Audapio last year.
Ding
Dublin-based mobile top-up provider Ding, which sends more than 5m top-ups to 150 countries every month, has teamed up with payments platform Adyen to simplify its top-up process and improve card authorisation rates.
Adyen, based in the Netherlands, will help Ding manage its international transactions and add new alternative ways to pay, such as mobile wallets, which is expected to appeal to the company’s international customers.
In September last year, Ding sold a majority stake to private equity firm Pollen Street Capital, reportedly for more than $300m.
Metabolomics Diagnostics
Irish biotech start-up Metabolomics Diagnostics announced this week that it is preparing for a US launch of its pre-eclampsia risk screening test after signing a deal with San Francisco company Renegade.bio.
Pre-eclampsia is a condition in pregnancy that can cause premature birth, lifelong complications for mother and baby, or even infant and maternal mortality.
Cork-based Metabolomics Diagnostics has been developing diagnostic tests for the early detection of this condition, and will jointly develop a test specifically for the US population with this new partnership.
Sitenna
Sitenna, one of the five Irish start-ups selected for Y Combinator last year, has been selected by four regional authorities in a UK programme to accelerate the roll-out of wireless connectivity infrastructure, including 5G.
The projects are funded by the UK government and will promote the use of publicly owned real estate assets.
Founded in 2020, Sitenna provides a platform for telecom companies to help them connect with real estate owners and find suitable sites for building towers and antennae – with the aim of speeding up deployment and reducing costs. It recently raised $2.1m in seed funding.
Siren
Galway-based investigative intelligence platform Siren announced a partnership with the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative (ATII) to help fight and raise awareness about human trafficking globally.
Siren’s platform will help ATII utilise data analytics to identify traffickers. A prime focus for ATII is child abuse material, which it said amounts to approximately 30pc of dark web investigations.
In 2019, Siren teamed up with US-based Praescient Analytics to access new opportunities in the US federal space. Months later, it raised $10m in a funding round backed by Enterprise Ireland, Atlantic Bridge and DVI Equity Partners.
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