Full coverage: start-up

Fintech veterans Graham Byrne and David Crimmins have secured €5m in backing from Santiago Capital and are closing a €500,000 seed round. Having started in Ireland, they plan to go to Europe.

Released departmental documents show that officials are more focused on finding someone to manage the current investment portfolio in over 250 companies than ensuring Ireland has a tech start-up accelerator come 2026.

The London fintech is entering a market in dire need of competition but winning an Irish banking licence will be just as crucial to its international expansion plans.

Dubliner Martin Scott spent a decade working with the European arm of a US private equity business, The Riverside Company. Now he chairs CreditLogic, an Irish fintech start-up that aims to transform the mortgage market.

Conor Sheridan swerved from fund management to fried chicken. However, his Mad Egg chain led to an AI business he believes can be an international player. He talks about pivots and potential.

Sarah Ouellette believes she has spotted that elusive thing, a true gap in the market - but she struggled to get Irish investors onboard. Now her company, Kindora, is about to close a €1.5m seed round, and raising overseas hasn’t been a problem.

Audio journalism production and streaming specialist News Over Audio has partnered with Go1, one of the largest online learning platforms in the world.

After selling their finance business in 2019, Joe O’Regan and his wife Deirdre O’Connor were looking for a new venture. So, during the pandemic, they launched Put Your Feet Up Candles. O’Regan talks about switching careers, online strategy and future expansion.

Pharmacist Robert Fenton left Mitchelstown to try and make it in San Francisco. Five years later he has raised $11 million to help a new breed of life science and medical device companies disrupt healthcare. Tom Lyons, who has been following his story since 2016, talks to the 33-year old founder of Qualio.

Pastry chef Gráinne Mullins has worked in some of the most prestigious kitchens in Europe. But the economy went into lockdown, she discovered she wanted to do something a little bit different and decided to create her own business venture, Grá Chocolates.