🎆 Another year over
While December was quieter we saw new funding, awards, reports and reviews continuing to show the growth in Irish tech
Welcome to the eighth edition of “The Land of Saints, Scholars, and Techies”!
And so 2021 is over… another year of challenges, restrictions and worries but a year in which Irish tech and start-ups continued to push forward. In December, we saw a number of end of year reports and awards, ongoing funding, and a chance to reflect on the past year as well as look forward.
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The Stories
The season for gifting 🎁 Irish start-up &Open announced plans for over 100 jobs as well as intentions to pursue further funding in the New Year. The company has developed a gifting platform that makes it easier for brands to send carefully-selected gifts to customers to boost loyalty and engagement. Founded in 2017 the company has seen a massive surge in the last 6 months and it will be exciting to see how they can grow in 2022.
FDI Flowing 💰 2020 saw an increase in FDI to Ireland by more than €70 billion. This was largely driven by activity from North America. This was in spite of the impacts of the COVID pandemic as highlights the strength of the Irish ecosystem particularly for life sciences and technology. The FDI picture continues to be a positive one with ongoing investment in 2021 and subsequent job creation. With IDA supported companies now accounting for more than 11% of the workforce.
Fast 50 ⏩ Deloitte’s Tech Fast 50 awards were announced in the month with Dublin based health-tech company LetsGetChecked taking the top award. The awards rank the country's 50 fastest-growing technology companies based on revenue growth over the last four years. There were a number of new faces joining companies who have been seen before demonstrating that the indigenous sector is renewing itself on a continuous basis.
Women in Tech 👩💻 Startup Genome’s report for 2021 recognised that there is still a significant gender gap for startups in Europe. However, positively it did identify Dublin as the fifth best European city for women founders and CEOs. Clearly work to be done but better to be near the top of the list than the bottom.
Irish funding 🤑 December can often be a quieter month but Irish companies continued to receive funding. This month saw companies including Medosync, nSurely, Dermview, Educatly, Klearcom, Liveflow, Accelerated Payments, Zyte, Query Layer, Justtip, Aikido Finance, Frankie, and Axial3D announce new funding to support growth.
Stripe Carbon 🌍 Stripe is spending $6m on carbon removal purchases from four new start-ups, bringing its total carbon removal commitments to $15m. The companies 44.01, Ebb Carbon, Eion, and Sustaera were evaluated by 13 climate science experts, cover a wide range of technologies: permanent geologic storage, ocean alkalinity enhancement, enhanced weathering, and direct air capture.
Compensation Climbing 📈 2021 saw another steep increase in compensation within the tech industry. This is a sign of the strength of the region but does pose a challenge for companies looking to grow and particularly indigenous start-ups. How companies manage these growing compensation expectations will be interesting to see in 2022.
European Tech 🇪🇺 This month saw the State of European Tech report released. The report recognised the growing role of Europe for global tech, the breadth of companies and founders in the region, increased investment and the extraordinary IPOs and valuations European companies are enjoying.
Looking back and forward 🔮 As we finish out the year it can help to look back on 2021 and what may happen in 2022. This collection by Spacecadet highlights the top technology & business trends of 2021 while closer to home we had articles from Irish Independent and the Irish Times. Meanwhile looking forward these pieces by Spacecadet and NextBigThing explores some of the upcoming trends and movements we may see in the New Year.
Jobs 👔 December is typically a quieter time for job announcements but opportunities continued to be announced particularly in the capital
If there are any roles/ job announcements you would like me to share in the next edition feel free to reach out.
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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 in a start-up within the tech industry and believe that the Irish market and ecosystem is a dynamic one for such 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