The Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) Founder of Year Award for 2025 will be presented at an awards ceremony at the Salesforce Tower in Dublin later today. This year, 38 HPSUs were eligible for the award, with the list narrowed down to five finalists: Senus, Marama Labs, Pilot Path, Assiduous and NeuroBell.
The winner will be selected by a panel of judges comprising Andreea Wade, general partner at Delta Partners VC; Brian Shields, chief executive and co-founder of Neurent Medical; and Tom Cusack, divisional manager of industrial and life sciences at Enterprise Ireland.
The Founder of the Year award forms an important element of the Enterprise Ireland HPSU Founders Forum. Now in its 10th year, the HPSU Founders Forum, which is delivered in partnership with Select Strategies, is a six-month readiness-to-scale programme for Enterprise Ireland-funded start-ups. This programme supports start-ups to take off and scale. The objective of the forum is to provide a platform for founders to help each other to succeed internationally and scale faster. It is a proven model that has already supported over 480 Irish-owned start-ups from a variety of sectors including digital technologies, medical devices, fintech, food, engineering and construction, many of whom have gone on to raise further investment, and increase the value of their business.
The finalists
Eoghan Finneran – Senus
Formerly known as Farmeye, Senus transforms complex environmental data into actionable insights for optimal natural resource management. The firm’s software suite precisely measures and analyses nature – or natural capital – across different components including soil health and carbon content to water quality and biodiversity. Senus’s purpose is to improve the wellbeing of both landowners and the environment.
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According to the company, it’s not just about measuring nature, it’s about providing the intelligence needed to nurture it, enabling a future where environmental preservation and business success thrive together. Senus provides measurement, reporting and verification technology for natural capital utilising user-friendly IT platforms to enable real-time, accurate, environmental impact reporting.
Craig Lancaster – Pilot Path
Pilot Path is an innovative recruitment and management platform designed to solve recruitment and engagement issues facing flight training schools and large airline groups. Established in 2020 and headquartered in Dublin, the company now has operations in several large jurisdictions, with bases in the UK and the US as well as Ireland.
The company manages every barrier, licence and transition, orchestrating a consortium of partner universities, flight schools and airlines in concert with its own bespoke technology platform. Pilot Path unifies all of these stakeholders into a single structured journey for students – managed, financed and actively stewarded to final cockpit entry.
Fergal Meegan – Assiduous Tech
Assiduous is the corporate finance autopilot. The company puts a virtual corporate finance team in the pocket of every small and medium-sized business owner. It provides round-the-clock digital access to proactive, quality and affordable advice to business owners to enable them to plan and execute high-value transactions in the same way as a large enterprise. Founded by a team of capital markets professionals and technologists in 2023, Assiduous is dedicated to helping owners build valuable businesses and achieve financial independence. In particular, the solution is designed to meet the needs of business owners for whom traditional advisory is unsuitable, unaffordable or inaccessible.
[ Wanted: Female business founders with ambitions on a global scaleOpens in new window ]
Brendan Darby – Marama Labs
Marama Labs is a deep-tech firm developing advanced spectroscopy instrumentation for rapid analysis of complex liquids. Founded in New Zealand by Irish-born chief executive Dr Brendan Darby, the company opened its Irish operations in 2022 to expand the applications of its CloudSpec technology in the mRNA lipid-nanoparticle therapeutic market.
The company develops analytical tools that help biotech companies develop mRNA medicines. Its patented CloudSpec instrument measures the drug content of complex liquid formulations in seconds instead of hours, giving scientists immediate insights during the drug development process. Marama Labs’ tools speed up research and manufacturing, reduce bottlenecks and accelerate the delivery of next generation RNA-based therapies.
Mark O’Sullivan – NeuroBell
NeuroBell develops novel products for early detection and monitoring of neonatal seizures to facilitate better treatment and patient outcomes. Seizures are the most common manifestation of newborn brain injury and require treatment. However, seizures in newborns often have no physical signs and require specialist neurological monitoring equipment and expertise, which are not readily available, leading to long delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Founded in 2023 in Cork, NeuroBell develops novel medical device solutions providing portable EEG monitoring with automated neonatal seizure detection at the neonatal ICU bedside. NeuroBell’s first product, Luna, is a portable brain monitor with AI-powered seizure detection. Luna gives all neonatal ICU staff the ability to quickly diagnose seizures without subspecialty expertise, ensuring timely intervention and treatment.
