🦄 Hunting Unicorns
Irish companies thriving, a Whiskey NFT, and the continuation in the rise of remote work
Welcome to the fourth edition of “The Land of Saints, Scholars, and Techies”!
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I began last month’s newsletter with a piece on languishing but as society opens and the summer stretches out I think it is time for us all to begin flourishing. May was a busy month in the tech and start-up space in Ireland as there were increasing signs of acceleration following the COVID lull.
On a national level, we saw Ireland targeted by a ransomware attack, a number of Irish companies with positive funding and growth announcements, another year of Computer Science in the Leaving cert and a whiskey cask NFT sell for thousands.
In other big news, I did not make it to the Business Post 30 under 30 but I still have a few years to go…
Chasing the next Irish Unicorn 🦄 Sifted with the help of Irish VCs profiled some of the most exciting start-ups growing in Ireland at the moment. Many names you may recognise from previous editions or will see below. The hope for Ireland is that more of these convert to become unicorns and even prove that a company on the scale of Stripe can grow from Ireland. Looking at these companies and the activity below, it is increasingly clear to me that the people and talent are here and it is about enabling some of these start-ups to flourish at home so that “Unicorns” become a common sight.
Cyberattack troubles ⚔️ In the middle of the month, Ireland and more specifically our HSE was the victim of a cyberattack and was forced to shut down their systems. The hackers released Conti Ransomware onto the HSE’s systems encrypting and stealing vast amounts of confidential data. More than 400 organisations globally have now been targeted with Conti ransomware and there is an increasing level of brazenness by these hackers in recent attacks. The HSE story is still to reach its conclusion but currently, the HSE are attempting to restore systems, testing a decryption key apparently gifted by the hackers to them and estimating the cost at upwards of €100 million. Certainly, a strong reminder to avoid opening unknown links and files.
Irish Success 🏆 May was a month of massive success for a number of Irish companies and those with Irish interests. We saw Evervault, Soapbox Labs, and Payslip announced new growth plans. Meanwhile, Qualio, Wayflyer, Utmost, Cumulus, SpaceOS, and &Open celebrated new funding. Certainly, an endorsement of the ecosystem and perhaps a sign that some COVID fears are being allayed in the business world anyway and companies are looking to grow. One wonders could we be in a golden era of Irish companies? We do seem to be seeing the secondary effects of the tech ecosystem that has been built here with both the skills and ambitions to start and grow great companies increasingly present locally.
Funding flows 💸 With the Q1 numbers for Venture Capital (VC) funding showing some positive trends year on year and especially for early-stage companies, May saw some more new money arrive to the market. One of Ireland’s leading VCs Atlantic Bridge announced a new €80 million investment fund for high-potential start-ups. Yield Lab an Agtech accelerator and VC raised a new near €50 million fund and EFO Ventures seeks to invest in early-stage Irish companies. Meanwhile, TeamABC a new traveltech VC is to be headquartered in Ireland. Finally, Enterprise Ireland opened applications to their €1m Competitive Start Fund.
Inward Investment 🤑 While worries abound about the impacts of global tax rates, remote working, and a recalibrated working world on the level of FDI to Ireland - there was still positive news as the country ranked highly in Site Selection’s “Global Best to Invest” rankings. With the total FDI to Ireland passing €1 trillion in 2019 it will be imperative for the country to not only support our own companies but also remain attractive to foreign companies as we grow our economy.
Remote Ireland 🏖️💻 Ireland is looking to keep pace with change and enable increased remote work across the island. May saw plans enacted to establish a national network of over 400 remote hubs. Additionally, we saw a new advisory panel established by Grow Remote with the support of Enterprise Ireland with the aim of maximising remote working potential. This is on the back of an NUIG survey which found 95% of respondents seeking some level of remote work moving forward and evidence that more companies may consider locations outside of cities and increased blended working.
Square to Ireland 🧾 Payments company Square led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey launched officially in Ireland. This followed a successful early access programme and is the first move by Square the Eurozone. The move will certainly add competition to the payments market in Ireland and even look to win business from the home team in Stripe. This move is likely to accelerate the move to electronic payments we have seen over the last number of years but does pose some questions around accesibility to electronic payments from some members of society.
NFT Whiskey 🥃 Kinsale Spirits raised just over €80k from the auction of the first-ever Irish whiskey cask represented by a non-fungible token (NFT). While I have no doubt the 20-year-old single malt is beautiful this sale represents an interesting jump-off point for NFTs the latest craze rising out of blockchain technology. Check out these articles from CoinDesk and Digiday on NFTs for a lowdown on just what they are. One thing I will say is that at least the purchaser received the real thing as well as the token this time.
The Next Generation of Engineers 👩🎓 Ireland’s rollout of computer science at secondary level continued in May as 500 students sat their Leaving Cert exam. Introduced after various attempts in 2018 we saw the first set of exams last year and May 2021 saw our second cohort take on this exciting challenge. It’s great to see this initiative continue in spite of COVID-19. I am somewhat jealous as a subject that exposes you to this level of problem solving and technology is sure to stand these students in good stead as they move forward in life.
Jobs 👔 Once again there was positive news on the jobs front across indigenous and FDI companies. Some were already mentioned above but others included Etsy, Tigera, Each&Other, Coca-Cola, DeepVerge, A-Lign, Buymie, WorkHuman, HR Buddy, Harness, and Permanent TSB. The IDA celebrated another announcement of a number of new arrivals spread across the island and role type. This balance of homegrown and international companies reflects my point from above on the need for both in growing our economy and providing opportunities to people.
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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