🏡 A very big house in the country
Stripe continue to feature, Facebook leans in to remote, a new Irish unicorn, and much more
Welcome to the fifth edition of “The Land of Saints, Scholars, and Techies”!
Summer started to take hold in June as news and business somewhat slowed and Ireland even enjoyed some sun. After a manic first half to the year, it felt like many took a pause ahead of an even busier end to 2021.
In the world of Irish tech and start-ups, there were some positive announcements from indigenous companies, Stripe secured more money, launched a new product and one of the founders acquired some property and there was news from Facebook and Irish advocate groups that could see shifts in the future of work
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The Stories
Busy times for Stripe 💈 After not featuring in Mays edition, June was a busy month in Stripe news, the company secured more than $1 billion as investors purchased shares from early backers and employees. Additionally, the company launched two new products - Stripe Tax (the first product largely developed by the Dublin office) and Stripe Identity. Finally, John Collison purchased the Abbey Leix estate for €20 million as the brothers and company continued to create more and more ties with their native land. With an expected IPO in 2022 just how high might their valuation reach?
Facebook Farewells? 👋 Facebook announced they would be allowing for permanent remote work following on from the pandemic. While not unexpected the news does create worries and conversation around the future of Ireland’s tech ecosystem and the reliance on FDI tech companies. I don’t believe we will see a mass talent or company exodus straight away but it brings to light the need to make Ireland a country people want to live in as their choices of location grow.
A better balance ⚖️ Four Day Week Ireland announced a new pilot programme to explore the feasibility of a 4-day week and a new work-life balance. Under the trial programme, employers will introduce a four-day week for staff over a six-month period starting in January 2022 . Simultaneously, the government will fund a research partnership to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of such a work structure. Having experienced a 4-day week myself there are certainly challenges but it can work - would you enjoy a condensed week?
Unicorn spotted 🦄 Days after my last newsletter commenting on the next Unicorns in Irish tech we saw the fourth emerge as LetsGetChecked obtained a €1 billion valuation through a Series D round. The company offer home health-testing and announced a partnership with the Irish Olympic team ahead of the Tokyo Games - something no doubt facilitated by their long-time backer Rory McIlroy.
Irish success ☘️ Irish companies enjoyed more success this month through new funding, partnerships, and more - companies like Scurri, GetVisibility, Webio, Assure Hedge, Overhaul, Moonshot, Cityswift, Spectrum.Life and VR Education. While there may be some global changes (Global tax, Remote working, Brexit) creating concern for Irish FDI it is great to see indigenous companies continue to grow and succeed.
A new VC 💸 Sova VC announced their intention to deploy nearly €20 million in Irish tech deals over the coming years. It is a positive to see money continue to flow into the economy and support growing Irish companies and Sova are extremely bullish on the future of the market based on the quality of companies, people, and infrastructure now in place and a booming VC market in recent years.
There’s COVID in the water 😷 Having recently announced a number of new jobs in Cork, Irish-founded company DeepVerge raised £10 million through a new share placing in June. The company has gained attention as it successfully completed trials to detect Covid-19 in wastewater treatment plants in real-time a system that could act as an early warning system for outbreaks of this and future disease.
Irish exits 🚪 An interesting article by Chris Horn advocating that Irish tech should focus on “ vibrant innovation together with high-value exits, serial entrepreneurship and an experienced founder culture” rather than looking to build global champions. I am unsure on my thoughts on this but creating a “cycle of successful but continuous entrepreneurship, serial high-value exits and returns on capital, and thus vibrant innovation with recycled and expanding investment” doesn’t sound too bad.
Cohort 1 🚀 Dogpatch Labs announced the first cohort of companies for the new NDRC accelerator programme. After experiencing record interest 11 companies were selected to take part in the 6 month experience. The companies selected are Dataships, Gain Grain, Guardara, Hiiker, Inferex, Kana, Legitify, Orcadia, Outcaster, Robotify and Vidu. Hopefully, we will see these companies emerge as massive success stories and the next generation of unicorns and industry leaders in years to come. #
Jobs 👔 June continued to provide jobs announcements in various companies across Irish tech and start-ups
Finally, with remote work set to stay a large part of many people’s lives, I thought I would share this thread with some helpful tips to keep you productive while still being in control of your life
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My Story and The Land’s Background
👋 To quickly introduce myself to anyone new … My name is Seán. I am in my late 20s, I was born and raised largely in Dublin so apologies if my capital bias may sometimes show up. I work within the tech industry and believe that the Irish market and ecosystem is a dynamic one for a small country.
With COVID and too much time on my hands, I decided to create this newsletter to capture the biggest stories and provide some commentary and thoughts of my own. My aim is to provide value to my readers by curating and commenting on what I believe to be the most compelling stories so you can stay informed with one quick email.
Thank you for taking some time out of your busy lives to read!
💬 Contact me: thelandsst@gmail.com
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Cheers,
Seán