From left: Bruce Murphy, Cristina Purtill, Richard Kennedy and Stephen Johnson Barker. Image: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye
The Trinity spin-out is looking to raise €3.6m to conduct its first clinical trials.
Medical device developer Plio Surgical was announced as the overall winner at an all-island investor readiness competition, taking home €100,000.
The annual InterTradeIreland all-island Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition aims to improve the investor readiness of new-start and early-stage businesses across the island. This year, eight finalists from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland participated in an investment pitch to a panel of judges – with winners receiving prizes worth a total of €300,000.
Along with being announced as the overall winner, Plio Surgical – a Trinity College Dublin spin-out – also won the Best Early-Stage category award.
The medtech company, currently at the pre-clinical stage, is developing a magnetic anastomosis device for gastrointestinal surgery. The company intends to enter the US market first followed by European markets.
“We are delighted that Plio Surgical were chosen as a winner in the Seedcorn competition. The standard was very high so we’re over the moon,” said Plio Surgical CEO Cristina Purtill.
“Going forward, we are looking to raise a €3.6m round to conduct our first clinical trials to bring our device to patients, so winning is hugely beneficial to us,” she said.
Plio Surgical also bagged the Big Ideas runner-up position at this year’s Enterprise Ireland Start-Up Day event in May.
Cotter Agritech, founded by brothers Jack and Nick Cotter, won the Best New Start category and the Sustainability Award at the InterTradeIreland event yesterday (7 November), taking home a total of €70,000.
The start-up built Cotter Crate, a sheep monitoring system that uses hardware and software to help farmers keep track of their animals and identify which ones need treatment.
The company also developed SmartWorm, a mobile app which enabling farmers to assess individual animals and predict if they require an anti-parasitic treatment in real-time.
In 2022, the Cotter Agritech won at the first AgTechUCD Agccelerator Programme for start-ups.
CEO and co-founder Nick Cotter said; “Winning this award gives us huge validation for what we’re doing. We’re in the middle of trying to raise a €450,000 seed round, so in terms of closing that round, this will really accelerate that.
“We’re deploying our product in Australia and New Zealand next year, so our aim is to deliver to farmers there and increase their profitability by up to 20pc.”
Meanwhile, Galway’s Suil Pharma, a company developing solutions focusing on vision and hearing, walked away with this year’s Special Award presented to the “best” venture stemming from a university spin-out or a support programme, and received a cash prize of €10,000.
Margaret Hearty, CEO of InterTradeIreland, said: “This year’s overall winner, Plio Surgical, epitomises the very best of what businesses across the island of Ireland have to offer and we are proud to support them at this early and important stage of their development.”
“Supporting innovative SMEs is key to delivering our economic priorities of higher productivity and better jobs,” said Dr Caoimhe Archibald, Northern Ireland’s minister of finance.
“The Seedcorn competition is an ideal first step for early-stage and new-start businesses as they move forward to securing the funding they need to realise their scaling potential.”
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