Goshido featured in Wall Street Journal

Posted by Simone Boswell on 15 November, 2010 in Archive | Digital Media & Entertainment | EI Client News | Entrepreneurship | Funding | Software/Services - (Be the first to comment)

Dear Contact: Send Cash
For one start-up, the secret to financing was a mass appeal on LinkedIn

ELIZABETH GARONE at the Wall St. Journal

When Frank Hannigan needed to raise a first round of financing for his software start-up earlier this year, he didn’t want to waste time with endless calls and meetings with potential investors. “Every day you spend selling equity in your business is a day you are not selling the output of your business,” he says.
Journal Reports

His solution? A note to 700 of his contacts on the business-networking site LinkedIn.

The message, which he hashed out with company founder Gerard Hartnett, was simple. Goshido, an Irish outfit that makes project-management software delivered over the Internet, was looking for 10 investors to pony up €25,000 (about $35,000) apiece. In return, they would each get a 2% share in the company.

Within a couple of days of sending the note through LinkedIn’s email service, Mr. Hannigan had 200-plus responses that ranged from requests for meetings or conference calls to lists of questions and quite a few messages that said, “No thanks, but I’ll pass it on.”

Read full article at Wall Street Journal

Ireland the Comeback Kid? Bloomberg on Founders and the Dublin Web Summit 2010

Posted by Enterprise Ireland Admin on 2 November, 2010 in Archive | Digital Media & Entertainment | Economic | EI Client News | Entrepreneurship | f.ounder/web summit | News Press | Software/Services | Telecom/Mobil - (Be the first to comment)

Originally Published November 2nd, 2010 on the BestConnected Blog, by Paul Browne
Click on the image for the full Bloomberg report video.

I was lucky enough to be at the F.ounders Event at the Dublin Web Summit on Friday and Saturday (including Enterprise Ireland’s CEO welcome to the Founders). Aside from thinking “What I am doing with my life?” ( as most of the other attendees were multi-millionaires in their late-twenties , or at a push , early thirties), the buzz and ideas from the event were incredible. This is reflected in the media coverage of the event, which shows Ireland in a very good light and highlights what is positive about the Internet in Ireland today.

The Guardian

CHAD HURLEY: “Right now I am in the process of transitioning into the role of adviser, stepping down, still being involved in the company, but it’s given me an opportunity to work on new projects,” he told the F.ounders international web conference in Dublin last night.

Wall Street Journal

“The last laptop lid has shut, the closing tweet sent, the final Gowalla check-in made. TheF.ounders Conference has ended. Was it just a talking shop where self-congratulatory geeks could indulge in mutual appreciation of their own cleverness, or was it a signpost on the road to a brighter future for Ireland?

It is too easy to be cynical. Sure there was an air of unreality about the place. And the conference was, at times, just a touched too pleased with itself. But actually it was more than just a conference and if it was pleased with itself, then it had good reason to be.”

“Paddy Cosgrove, the man behind the event should expect to be a man in demand.”  (more…)

Cork Entrepreneurs have New York in the palm of their hand

Posted by eoinmoore on in Archive | Digital Media & Entertainment | EI Client News | Software/Services | Telecom/Mobil - (Be the first to comment)

New York, NY/Cork, Ireland – In Hand Guides (IHG), an innovative Irish company based in Cork providing low cost embedded audio players, and Twin America who operate CitySights NY and Gray Line New York, today (Friday 29th October 2010) announced a major affinity partnership. Under the terms of the deal, which was secured with support from Enterprise Ireland’s New York Office, In Hand Guides will design and manufacture a branded bespoke audio device for their 3 million annual customers with City Sights and Gray Line New York.

IHG estimate that this deal will generate over €500,000 in the next twelve months, which will allow IHG to employ technical and support staff in their Cork base. Publicity has already generated interest with similar tourist companies in Chicago and Orlando. Bus tours in New York City were valued at $3 Billion in 2007 by the City Council. The city licenses 12 sightseeing companies, which operate 250 tour buses.

The agreement represents a groundbreaking deal for IHG which now has operations in four continents.

Trevor Winckworth, CEO and founder of IHG, said today, ‘In Hand Guides are delighted to introduce their product into the USA in conjunction with a company such as Twin America who provide tourism services to over three million visitors annually in New York and whose blue CitySights NY buses and red Gray Line buses are an icon on the streets of the Big Apple”

Enterprise Ireland’s Director of the Americas Gerry Murphy added: “This is a significant contract for this specialist Cork-based company. In securing this high profile New York partnership, InHand Guides demonstrates that small Irish companies can secure significant, prestigious international contracts by focussing on providing quality, innovative products tailored to specific customer requirements. We will continue to support them as they build on this success and work to break into other important US markets.” (more…)

ZENITH TECHNOLOGIES’ ADVANCED E-LEARNING SOLUTION BRINGS NEW LEVELS OF PRODUCTION AND PERSONNEL EFFICIENCIES TO COMPLEX MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

Posted by Admin on 28 October, 2010 in Archive | EI Client News | Elearning | Medical Technology - (Be the first to comment)

zenith

CORK, Ireland and BOSTON, MA, Oct. 28, 2010—Zenith Technologies [Zenith], an Ireland-based global leader in automation, process control and manufacturing execution systems (MES) to the life sciences and other industries, today launched its advanced e-learning solution in the U.S. Designed to train technical personnel at operations facilities in any global location, Zenith’s offering is highly customized for specific manufacturing environments. Marking a major shift from generic online training approaches, the intuitive and interactive instruction model is optimized to deliver customized, accessible technical training for immediate practical application at a lower cost. The solution gives facility managers a powerful new training tool to maximize production and personnel efficiencies while reducing manufacturing risks that could adversely affect quality and yields.

Since 2006, Zenith’s presence in the U.S. market has grown steadily. This year, the expansion pace accelerated when the company established a hub in Framingham, MA to serve clients in the life sciences sector. The Framingham location augmented existing offices in Philadelphia and North Carolina. Today, Zenith’s newest U.S. office was opened on the West Coast.

The announcements were made during a visit to the company’s Framingham office yesterday by Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Mr. Batt O’Keeffe. The visit was organized by Enterprise Ireland, the government organization responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in international markets. (more…)

Active Mind Technology Wins SCCUL Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Posted by Simone Boswell on 25 October, 2010 in Archive | Awards | Digital Media & Entertainment | EI Client News - (Be the first to comment)

Irish company, Active Mind Technology, who is developing technology in the sports industry aimed at monitoring and improving a golfer’s game, has won the €10,000 top prize in the the SCCUL Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2010.

Based in Galway, Ireland and San Jose, California, Active Mind Technology won the overall award for its imeeGOLF.com product, incorporating a consumer device, an online platform as a service, social media and gaming and location based elements.

Founder and CEO, John McGuire, is presently in Silicon Valley opening an overseas office in the Irish Innovation Center based in San Jose. This location allows McGuire better access to investors and CEO’s of leading companies in the categories of online gaming, mobile payment solutions, search and location based services.

“Brands such as Callaway, Nike and others in the golf industry, alongside high profile investors, recognize that imeeGolf.com is a game changer, we are dragging golf into the 21st century,“ said McGuire. “I respect the traditions and etiquette of golf, but we will be offering a new experience for all that play the sport. Golf will no longer be just a good walked spoilt, there is much more to come!”

(more…)

Taoglas Launches New Range of Products to International Markets at CTIA and IT Expo.

Posted by Brian Glynn on 22 October, 2010 in Archive | EI Client News | Telecom/Mobil - (Be the first to comment)

At IT Expo and CTIA this month, Taoglas, the leading M2M antenna provider, (www.taoglas.com), launched a new range of high efficiency antennas. Called the Spartan MA.600, this antenna is a heavy-duty, waterproof, external M2M antenna for use in telematics, transportation and remote monitoring applications. The Spartan is unique to the international market because it combines a 3-in-1 GPS, Cellular (2G and 3G) and WiFi, heavy-duty antenna with 40% efficiency in a compact format. The antenna screws down permanently onto a roof or metal panel and can be pole or wall-mounted with a metal bracket.
For industries such as commercial vehicle telematics, remote monitoring, smart meter systems and construction equipment, the Spartan provides a robust, rugged antenna that is durable, even in extreme environments. Taoglas founders, Dermot O’Shea and Ronan Quinlan were very excited about the reaction to the Spartan from the market.
“We took all we learned in the external M2M antenna market with our smaller Hercules range and brought the knowledge to bear for this antenna. Transportation applications are now using our Spartan antenna with great results, and we are already seeing a lot of interest for this antenna which solves a host of real market problems,” said Dermot O’Shea, Director, Taoglas. “Companies have come to us asking for a heavy-duty antenna that delivers the highest efficiency that can also pass approvals. People don’t want fin or whip antennas, which are susceptible to breaking. The housing can also be used to incorporate a mixture of high efficiency antennas at other frequency bands. The Spartan MA.600 meets all of these needs and displays our ability to pioneer high-quality antenna solutions for the M2M market.”

For more information about the Spartan antenna visit Taoglas’ news page at: http://www.taoglas.com/news/39/

Technology Start-Up “HeyStaks” Attracts $1.4 million Investment From NCB Ventures

Posted by Brian Glynn on in Archive | Digital Media & Entertainment | EI Client News | Funding | News Press | Software/Services - (Be the first to comment)

heystack-new

  • New Product Combines Two of The Most Pervasive Online Activities: Web Search and Social Networking, to materially improve users’ web search experience
  • Co-founder sold previous start-up for a reported $60 million in 2008

HeyStaks Technologies, a social web-search start up, today announced it has secured $1.4 million of funding from NCB Ventures.

HeyStaks has developed a patent protected desktop and  mobile solution that allow users to harness their social graphs as they search on their favourite search engines, and thereby get the benefit of their trusted peers’ searches.  HeyStaks delivers community-enhanced search results that are more personalised and relevant than conventional search engine results. (more…)

Gridstore partners in the US with the help of Paul Solski

Posted by Enterprise Ireland Admin on 19 October, 2010 in Archive | EI Client News - (Be the first to comment)

Published October 19th, 2010 by Andrew Peet on The Best Connected Blog

Like many business, Enterprise Ireland depends on feedback from client companies to tell it what it is getting right, and what it can do better. Which is why I’m delighted to get the following feedback from Kelly Murphy, CEO of Gridstore, on the EI supported work that Paul Solski carried out with his company.

Gridstore provides next generation storage grid solutions that enable small and medium businesses to meet their ever increasing storage and bandwidth capacity needs seamlessly and less expensively than traditional systems. We see an opportunity to address a gap in the market that exists between enterprise storage and standalone network attached storage (NAS) by building a Managed Services Provider partner channel that can displace traditional storage systems in tens of thousands of small and medium businesses.

We needed to build a partner program that would enable us to rapidly ramp up the recruitment and activation of hundreds of partners while maintaining quality and consistency. At Enterprise Ireland’s recommendation, we turned to AIM to build the Gridstore Partner Program because of its demonstrated channel building experience and extensive knowledge of the Microsoft partner ecosystem.

AIM helped us to develop the partner strategy, a multi-tier sales model, business terms and compelling partner messaging. The structure and consistency built into our partner program now provides us with the capability to recruit and active many partners without a substantial investment in offices and employees. AIM also researched the market and profiled over 4500 potential partners. Consequently, we have been able to engage partners and customers more quickly and with better results. AIM did an excellent job.

According to Paul Solski;

It’s been a real pleasure working with Gridstore. Kelly has a very clear vision of where to take his company and is progressing in a considered way. I truly believe that Gridstore will shake up the US storage market in a very meaningful way. I am now drafting out a proposal for Gridstore to scale their recruitment of the 4,500 potential partners identified. John, Andrew, Paul – many thanks to all of you for your terrific support of this engagement you have been instrumental in making it easier for Gridstore to succeed.

Click here for more information on how Enterprise Ireland has been helping Irish companies partner with Microsoft.

Irish Learning Showcase Guest Speaker Scoops Industry Gold Award

Posted by Admin on 15 October, 2010 in Archive | Awards | EI Client News | Elearning - (Be the first to comment)

David DeFilippo, Chief Learning Officer at BNY Mellon Asset Management, was a key speaker at the 2010 Irish Learning Showcase in Dublin, Ireland. (Left, David DeFilippo presents at the Irish Learning Showcase 2010 in Dublin, Ireland.)

David’s presentation on Leadership Development Processes drew great interest and proved to be one of the highlights of the event.

On September 28th, David’s industry expertise was recognized as he received a Learning in Practice Award from Chief Learning Officer magazine. He was awarded the gold Global Learning Award for his accomplishments in the global learning category.

A record number of nominations were made for the awards, given at the Chief Learning Officer magazine Symposium at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, California.

David will be featured in a special awards supplement in the magazine’s December issue.

For more information on the awards, visit http://www.clomedia.com/awards/.

CHIPSENSORS

Posted by David Smith on 14 October, 2010 in Archive | BioPharma | Economic | EI Client News | Funding | Telecom/Mobil | VC - (Be the first to comment)

A BANK OF IRELAND KERNEL CAPITAL INVESTEE COMPANY IS ACQUIRED BY U.S. BASED SILICON LABORATORIES INC

Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Equity Fund confirms that it has sold its 40% share holding in ChipSensors as part of an all cash trade sale of the firm to Texas based Silicon Laboratories Inc. ChipSensors Limited, a developer of innovative silicon sensor chips to detect temperature, humidity and gases is based at the University of Limerick. It was established in 2005 by Tim Cummins after securing an initial investment of €100,000 by way of a loan note from the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Equity Fund, an early stage equity fund supported by Bank of Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and private investors.

Since 2005 a further eight separate investments by the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Equity Fund in ChipSensors followed, including that of April 2010 when the Company announced a €2m investment from a syndicate that included Enterprise Ireland and London based ETV Capital. Total investment by the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Private Equity Fund was €1.95m.

Commenting on the announcement, Niall Olden, Managing Partner of Kernel Capital said: “This is an excellent trade sale, the transaction demonstrates how early stage high potential companies can be nurtured and supported while simultaneously generating excellent returns for investors. This sale follows a series of successful trade sales by the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Fund, all of which have attracted foreign direct investment into Ireland through acquisition by global players of the Fund’s portfolio companies.” (more…)

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