The Week In Irish Startups
Top Angels Invest, Flagship Tech Conference Details & Dublin Tech Jobs
Newsletter 120
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:
Oraion: BusinessPlus reports that Irish AI startup Oraion has raised $3.5 million in a pre-seed funding round as it prepares to accelerate expansion to the US and Latin America. Oraion's founder is co-founder and CEO Alexander Walsh, who leads a team of alumni from Apple, Revolut, N26 and Bolt among others. The round was led by New York-based Studio VC, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and notable angel investors including Paul Forster (co-founder of Indeed), Aidan Corbett (co-founder of Wayflyer), Gearoid O'Brien (principal data scientist at YouTube), Juho Parkkinen (CFO of Burning Man Project), Angus Miln (partner at Cooley LLP), Maurice O'Donoghue, Adam Wilson (Nordea Bank), Maria O'Brien (partner at SOSV), and Pierre-Antoine Porte of OpenAI. The company has developed an agentic AI platform that processes raw enterprise data instantly to provide actionable insights, allowing users to 'chat' with their enterprise data and integrate with productivity applications like Slack and Microsoft Teams, with plans to triple its workforce to 45 and target 50% market share of Fortune 500 companies within three years.
MoveTru: Charlie Taylor reports that Belfast-based sportstech startup MoveTru has raised €1.4 million in a pre-seed funding round as it officially launches across Europe. MoveTru's founder is Naomi McGregor, who was recently included in Forbes' prestigious '30 under 30' ranking and established the company in July 2020 after her own injury diagnosis difficulties inspired her Queen's University Belfast dissertation. According to the report, the round was led by UK-based female-founded venture capital firm Two Magnolias, with participation from notable angel investors including Jeff Mostyn (former chairman of AFC Bournemouth), AwakenAngels (women-led Irish funding syndicate), IAG Capital, and Hban among 50 total investors. The company has developed a wearable and app-based solution using machine learning to provide real-time biomechanical insights that help athletes prevent lower body injuries and recover quickly, with validation from Loughborough University and plans to launch in the US later this year after doubling headcount to 8 people.
Cumulus Neuroscience: Margaret Canning reports that Belfast-based digital health tech firm Cumulus Neuroscience has closed a £3.25 million funding round to help future expansion and recruitment. Cumulus's founder is CEO Tina Sampath, who leads the company from their headquarters at Catalyst in the Titanic Quarter with 31 employees and a second location in Dublin. According to the report, the round was led by a £1.5 million investment from Whiterock's Growth Capital Fund, along with £1.25 million from the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland's equity fund, £0.3 million from Angel CoFund and £0.2 million from Co Fund NI. The company's NeuLogiq Platform uses headset and tablet-based assessments to measure brain function and advance neuroscience clinical trials for conditions like Alzheimer's, enabling biopharma partners to collect objective data more easily, including while patients are at home.
SynergySuite: Charlie Taylor reports that Irish-founded restaurant management software company SynergySuite has secured €2 million in a Series A extension round from existing investors. SynergySuite's founders are siblings Niall and Suzanne Keane, who established the company in Dublin in 2011 but departed in November 2023 following a legal case with backers. According to the report, the company has developed an all-in-one restaurant management platform that integrates with existing technology systems to manage inventory, procurement, recipe management, food safety, scheduling, HR and accounting, with offices in Dublin, London and Utah. Previous investors participating in the latest financing include tech veteran Bill McCabe via his Oyster Capital vehicle, US venture capital firm First Analysis, Georgia-based Lago Innovation Fund, and chairman Ken Keating, with clients including KFC and the Chawke Pub Group.
Events/Programmes:
AWS Cloud Day Dublin: AWS Cloud Day returns on Thursday September 18th to Dublin’s Convention Centre. This is AWS’ flagship conference in Ireland. Previous speakers have included Tines CEO Eoin Hinchy and Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, while investors Debbie Rennick, Elaine Coughlan and Jane Dillon were interviewed by Scale Ireland CEO Martina Fitzgerald on the startup investor stage last year. This year there’ll be startup talks on Go To Market, Raising Investment, Gen AI and more. Founders will also be able to book one to one networking slots with investors. You can register for this free event here.
Hiring:
Cytidel: Venture-backed cybersecurity company Cytidel enables security teams to cut through the noise and tackle vulnerabilities that truly matter by harnessing real-time threat intelligence to highlight the 1% of issues that pose genuine risk—often days or weeks before other sources. They are hiring for a Senior Full-Stack Engineer to build and own full-stack solutions using C# .NET Core (back end) and React.js (front end). You'll work with PostgreSQL and MongoDB, deploy and manage applications using Azure services and Docker containers, establish CI/CD pipelines, and champion testing practices to maintain high-quality code. The role involves embedding security best practices across the development lifecycle, working closely with the CTO to influence product direction, and mentoring junior engineers while driving engineering best practices. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of Clean Architecture principles and patterns like CQRS, experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Azure Resource Manager), background in cybersecurity or security frameworks, and prior startup or scaling SaaS experience. You should be comfortable working in ambiguous environments and experimenting with AI tools like GitHub Copilot and GPT. For more details and to apply, click here.
Protex AI: AI-driven computer vision company Protex AI is building a safer, smarter industrial workplace with an intelligent operating system that redefines how facilities operate. They recently secured a $36 million Series B and are trusted by industry leaders like DHL, Amazon, and Tesla. Operating in 20+ countries, they're the go-to safety partner for Fortune 500 manufacturing and logistics enterprises. They are hiring for an MLOps Engineer to design, scale, and optimize their computer vision pipelines serving thousands of clients. You'll own the infrastructure that powers ML models in production, automating workflows, improving observability, and ensuring reliable, cost-efficient deployment at scale. The ideal candidate will have 3-5+ years of experience in DevOps, MLOps, or ML engineering roles, experience automating ML workflows using CI/CD pipelines, strong Python coding skills, and hands-on experience with containerization (Docker) and AWS infrastructure. For more details and to apply, click here.
Jentic: Dublin-based AI infrastructure startup Jentic is building the core infrastructure for AI agents, enabling them to access APIs, workflows and other AI agents securely and efficiently. They are hiring for their first Product Manager. You'll define and drive Jentic's product roadmap in collaboration with engineering, design, and founders, translating complex technical capabilities into clear user value. The role involves working closely with users and developers to understand needs and pain points, establishing key usage analytics, and owning end-to-end delivery of features from ideation to launch. The ideal candidate will have 4+ years of product management experience, experience launching 0→1 products with meaningful impact, and be energized by building in a dynamic, fast-evolving space. You should be deeply curious about AI/agentic workflows and bring a strong user-first mindset. For more details and to apply, click here.
Best,
Ed
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