The Week In Irish Startups
New E.I Funding, TechTeeUp, Sequoia Backed Remote Roles & Successful Pitch Decks
Newsletter 108
Hi folks,
Hope you’re having a nice Easter. 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
Assiduous: RTE reports that Assiduous has secured €1m in funding and announced the launch of its Corporate Finance Autopilot product. Assiduous was founded in 2023 by investment bankers Fergal Meegan and Barry Murphy and is headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin. Its Corporate Finance Autopilot is a virtual corporate finance service-as-a-software solution, which is enabled by the latest AI advances, and bridges the gap between business owners and capital markets. It supports SMEs preparing for strategic, financing and liquidity transactions with a whole of lifecycle approach. The oversubscribed private investment round was backed by experienced business owners and executives, with the support of Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Start-Up (HPSU) funding.
VentureWave Capital: Charlie Taylor reports that Venturewave Capital, which is behind the €100 million Impact Ireland fund that invests in “tech for good” companies, has led a $7.3 million Series A raise for ViAct, a Hong Kong-based AI start-up. It is one of two new deals announced by the firm. Founded in 2016 by Gary Ng and Hugo Chjeuk, ViAct has developed an AI-powered platform continuously detects risks, ensures compliance, and enhances efficiency across construction projects and other critical industries. Other backers in the recent Series A financing include Singtel Innov8, the VC arm of one of Asia’s largest communications technology group, Korean Investment Partners, and PolyU Entrepreneurship Investment Fund. In addition to leading the Series A for ViAct, Venturewave has also participated in a new raise for AIREV, a next-generation AI startup headquartered in the UAE.
Enterprise Ireland: Silicon Republic reports that E.I has announced a new stream of funding under its Commercialisation Fund to help researchers bring their innovations to market. The Proof of Concept Funding initiative offers up to €100,000 over a 12-month period, bridging the gap between initial research and the commercial market. The programme supports a range of activities including customer discovery, prototype development and early-stage human-use studies, helping researchers validate both the technical feasibility and market need for their innovations. The initiative will also include non-financial supports such as mentoring, networking and team development.
Events/Programmes:
TechTeeUp: On Tuesday 10th June, 2025. Join 100+ Tech ecosystem players for TechTeeUp for Charity supporting 3 charities on the Island of Ireland. The Children's Heartbeat Trust, Just Ask and Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services (OLH&CS). There’ll be golf, tennis, dinner, drinks, raffles, auctions and a few surprises. There’s still a few limited spots left for tennis and dinner. More info here. Kudos to the very generous sponsors of Stripe, Amplifi, Elkstone, Philip Lee, eDesk & Needl.
Stripe Snacks: Join Stripe on Thursday 22nd of May in Galway’s PorterShed for their latest edition of Stripe Snacks on the future of work with AI—a lunch and learn with Galway’s tech community, exploring how AI is transforming the way we work, build products, and run businesses. Whether you are an AI-first founder, scaling a business, or just curious, you’ll walk away with practical insights and strategic ideas to stay competitive. Speakers at this lunchtime session include Jentic cofounder Sean Blanchfield, Joe Smyth of Gensys and Robert O’Shaughnessy of Switch Dimension. It’s free to register here.
New Frontiers Tallaght: Applications are now open for Phase 2 of the New Frontiers Programme — supporting early-stage entrepreneurs with resources, community, and guidance. New Frontiers Phase 2 is run by TU Dublin Tallaght. Phase 2 is a full-time programme for six months during which you must be exclusively working on developing your project. €15,000 of equity-free funding is also available for eligible participants (T&C’s apply). The aim is to run the Phase 2 programme 80% in person/20% online (workshops are in person and 1:1 clinics and mentoring sessions are online). The programme will be conducted at the Synergy Centre at TU Dublin Tallaght campus. The application deadline is Friday 25th of April. The first day of the programme is June 10th. You can apply here.
Hiring:
Pavlov: Pavlov is building the next generation of customer success tools for B2B SaaS companies. They help businesses maximise the value of their scaled customer segments by identifying key signals, orchestrating automated interventions, and measuring realised value over time. Founded by a team with experience from Meta, Intercom, and Shopify, they're tackling the challenges of the consumerisation of B2B, helping companies make data-driven decisions without adding more headcount. As the first Marketing hire at Pavlov, you'll shape how they tell their story to the world and enable their sales team to win. You'll craft compelling narratives around their product and value proposition, build sales enablement materials that convert, and develop a deep understanding of their market and customers. Apply here for this Product Marketing role.
Evervault: Evervault have opened up a number of new roles to accelerate their growth across Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Product, and Finance. If you're interested in helping the world's leading brands secure and optimize their payment data, they're hiring in New York, Dublin, and London for roles including Senior Software Engineer, Technical Content Writer and Product Engineer. Their founder Shane Curran has more details here also. Evervault are backed by some of the worlds’ leading investors including Index, Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Frontline Ventures.
Sequoia Capital Remote Roles: Kevin Jurovich lists 30 Sequoia Capital-backed startups here that are all hiring remote roles currently. They include AI-powered translation services LILT AI and Workflow automation service Zapier.
Workday: Workday is now accepting applications for its Future Females in Tech Programme, taking place from 19–21 August 2025 in Dublin.
This free 3-day immersive experience is designed to give female students a real insight into careers in tech. Accommodation is covered for students travelling from outside Dublin. More details shared by Damien Mulley here, and prospective participants can apply here.
Best,
Ed
PS. EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 Finalists SiliconRepublic have the list of 24 entrepreneurs nominated for the prestigious awards here. The shortlisted entrepreneurs span a range of sectors including consumer, technology, media, health, life sciences, manufacturing and financial services. The finalists, who hail from all over the island of Ireland, will compete across four categories and an overall award.
PPS. Successful Pitch Decks: Adam Shuaib from Episode1 Ventures posts here on how upon reviewing 7,000 seed pitch decks, they noticed that most common “best practices” actually backfire. He details these and what actually worked here.