Business

Dogpatch Founders programme backs eight projects with €100k investment

Company cofounded by ex Wayflyer and Google staff among winners

The eight companies were selected from more than 20 new startups created as part of the 12-week programme, which matched people from different backgrounds and skill sets. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Ciara O'Brien
Wed Jan 24 2024 - 05:52

Talent accelerator Founders has named the eight tech startups to which it is awarding €100,000 in pre-seed funding to further develop the businesses.

Among the companies are AI company Glitch Ads, which was cofounded by ex Wayflyer and Google employees, low-code platform Inspeq AI, software company Gemell and AI tender writer Cocu were among the companies awarded funding, along with Talio, which is aimed at content creators, sales personalisationcompany Shoden, audience engagement company Gamesgrid and Nocumed, which has developed a measurement and reduction platform for carbon emissions.

The eight companies were selected from more than 20 new startups created as part of the 12-week programme, which matched people from different backgrounds and skill sets.

Operated by Dogpatch Labs and funded by NDRC, Founders provided participants were given access to a network to find a co-founder, build a start-up, and pitch for €100,000 investment.

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The talent accelerator is the first of its kind in Ireland. More than 500 initial applicants were whittled down to 40, of which 30 per cent were women and 20 per cent were international applicants.

“It was a super high bar and more than the eight are probably investable, which is great. We were delighted with with the outcome,” said Founders managing director Heather Morris. “Each of them is getting €100,000 to keep moving forward with us. We do another 12-week programme with them where we prepare them to continue to scale and then ultimately pitch for their seed round.”

The programme will get a 10 per cent stake in each of the companies in return for the investment.

“We’ve sat next to these people for 12 weeks,” said Ms Morris. “We can make a much more informed investment decision when it comes to deciding who’s who’s getting the investment.”

The programme is now preparing for its second cohort later this year, with plans to take in another 40 people. “We could have filled two cohorts with the applications we got before,” said Ms Morris. “We’ve got a handful of people for the next one already.”

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist

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