The Week In Irish Startups
2 New Raises, 4 Irish Startups Hiring, London Summit & Founder Matching
Newsletter 105
Hi folks,
Here’s the main events, funding and hiring news this week that I thought you might find of interest in the Irish Start-up Ecosystem:
Funding/Investor News
Liquid: Charlie Taylor reports that Northern Irish AI start-up Liquid has raised $1.5 million. The firm’s solution is focused on eliminating inefficiencies and reducing legal bottlenecks in M&A deals. The company is part of the first cohort of Founder Labs, the Belfast-based start-up accelerator founded by Ian Browne, who also leads NDRC, the state’s national accelerator. The company’s backers include angels from Silverstripe Investment Management, Goldman Sachs and Rothchild and the raise has been led by Ascension VC. Other backers in the pre-seed include Clarendon and Techstart.
Manna Drones: Ciara O’Brien reports that drone delivery company Manna has raised $30 million (€27.7 million) in funding as the company seeks to expand its business in Ireland and further afield. The funding was led by existing investors Molten Ventures and Tapestry VC, with Enterprise Ireland, Coca-Cola HBC, Dynamo VC and Radius Capital also participating. It brings to $60 million the total funding for the company, which has made more than 150,000 drone deliveries since it began testing the service. The funding will be used to support the business’s expansion both in Ireland and the Nordics, where Manna recently began testing its services.
Archways AI: Archways AI are the fifth startup to join this year’s NDRC Accelerator. Archways AI help businesses find and buy the right software, faster. Co-founders Louise Baldwin (formerly of Job&Talent and Adobe) and Keshav Thummuru (previous builder at Amazon, Meta, and Snap) have combined their product and engineering expertise with their personal frustrations in software procurement to build a smart research agent. Archways checks your existing software stack, monitors the software market, runs automated requirements checks, and coordinates input across your team - helping your business make better software decisions. Interested in the NDRC Accelerator? Applications close tomorrow Monday March 31st. Apply here.
Events/Programmes:
London Summit: The AWS Summit London is returning on April 30 at the Excel, London and it's bigger than ever. Enjoy an action-packed day at AWS Summit London 2025, where the latest in cloud innovation comes to life. Explore how cutting-edge technologies, from generative AI to serverless computing, are revolutionising industries and empowering businesses to lead in the digital era. Reserve your complimentary place at the AWS Summit London 2025 now here.
EireFin Accelerator: MiddleGame Ventures ÉireFin 2025 Irish FinTech accelerator in partnership with Enterprise Ireland took place last week. 10 seed-stage founders were selected for participation. The startups who took part included Assiduous, CYB3RBOARD, Esca, Generait, Leapifai, Pearstop, Stormlands Mining Ltd, Storfort, Voltflo TrustElevate.com. For more information on the companies who took part click here.
Founder Labs: The Founder Labs Accelerator Showcase takes place on this Thursday 3rd at 5.30pm in Ormeau Labs, Belfast. 10 exceptional startup teams will take the stage to deliver dynamic 3-minute pitches. This event is the culmination of six months of hard work and innovation, bringing together a room full of Founder Labs partners, supporters, investors, and other aspiring founders within the community. Hear from 10 inspiring founders who’ve completed the Founder Labs programme, meet the team behind it, and connect with investors and the wider startup ecosystem. Due to demand the event is now waiting list only, you can join the waiting list here.
Hiring:
Bounce Insights: Bounce provide insights that transform how brands understand and connect with their customers. As a fast-growing consumer insights platform, they leverage cutting-edge technology and AI to make research fast, actionable, and insightful. Trusted by the world’s leading brands like Coca-Cola, Diageo and Tesco, they are on a mission to disrupt the $125BN market research industry by transforming how brands make decisions. They’re hiring for a number of roles in Dublin including Inside Sales Manager, DevOps Engineer and Senior Software Engineer.
XOCEAN: XOCEAN is an ocean data company – they collect data for clients ranging from mapping the seabed to monitoring the environment. However, they do this differently, instead of using conventional crewed survey ships, they have developed a marine robotic system known as an Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV). They are looking for an AWS Infrastructure & Data Operations Lead to oversee cloud resource management, data transfer optimisation, and cost efficiency across our cloud environment. The role will focus on monitoring AWS infrastructure, improving data pipelines, and ensuring best practices in cloud storage and computing efficiency. The role is appearing on LinkedIn as closed to applications but Xocean are still recruiting for this role and you can apply by submitting your CV to careers@xocean.com. XOCEAN raised €115m in funding in January.
Jentic: Founded in 2024 by Sean Blanchfield, Dorothy Creaven, Michael Cordner and Dr Tilman Schaefer, Jentic, raised a €4m pre-seed round in January led by Elkstone. They’re hiring for a number of roles including a Senior Software Engineer. Jentic is the standalone integration layer that connects AI agents with other systems and each other. Built by developers, for developers, their platform simplifies and accelerates API integration, increasing AI agent reliability, while solving security and access control challenges. In this role you will proactively design and implement groundbreaking API integration solutions from the ground-up. You will work directly with the CTO and leadership team, theorising about the future of applied AI to help shape the core vision of Jentic’s product. For more info on the job and to apply click here.
AnotherTrip: AnotherTrip is a travel technology startup simplifying group travel planning. They offer collaborative tools, AI-powered recommendations, and seamless booking integrations, delivering effortless travel coordination for friends, families, and businesses. Join their team to help revolutionize the travel industry with innovative technology. They’re seeking a skilled and experienced Front-End Web Developer to join the team. As a mid-level developer, you will play a critical role in shaping the user experience and front-end architecture of our platform. Working closely with designers, back-end engineers, and product managers, you will contribute to the development of dynamic, interactive, and high-performance web applications that make group travel planning seamless and intuitive. Apply by sending your CV and a brief cover letter outlining your interest in the role and relevant experience to jobs@anothertrip.com.
Best,
Ed
PS. YC Founder Matching: A founder I was chatting to at an event on Wednesday mentioned how he met his cofounder on the YC cofounder matching platform. It is for anyone who is looking for a co-founder and you can have an idea in mind or just be exploring. You can be already working full-time on a startup or just interested in doing one in the future. In terms of the profile of cofounders, a quick look at the founders looking for a match includes someone who ‘built and managed the Visa platform that powers the Chase Sapphire Reserve’. You can sign up here.
PPS. Fastest Growing Startups: Charlie Taylor reports that 8 Irish firms have been included in a list of the top 100 fastest-growing startups across the UK and Ireland by the FT owned, Sifted. CleverCards is the highest ranked startup on the list, which ranks companies by revenue. The fintech, which is led by Kealan Lennon, is placed in 27th spot on the list with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 248.33%. Other Irish companies on the Sifted list include Ceartas, Tines, HolaFly, Nory, VRAI, CitySwift and Wayflyer.