20 May 2018
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Five Cork startups were successful at this year’s National Startup Awards, powered by Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. The Awards took place on Thursday, 17 May at the Mansion House in Dublin.
The successful Cork companies included:
ApisProtect won the silver award in the Agritech Startup category. ApisProtect has created a in-hive sensors to unobtrusively monitor honey bee colonies
Milis Bio won the silver award in the Food and Drink Startup category. Milis Bio has created technology screens with protein libraries to find flavouring ingredients, to produce novel flavourings in the drinks industry
EviView won the bronze award in the Product and Manufacturing startup category. EviView has developed smart manufacturing analytics software (e-ConnX) primarily for the Pharma and Biotech industry, using unique domain and industry knowledge of lean manufacturing
Firemole won the silver award in the eCommerce Startup category. Firemole is a patent pending, first of its kind safety-tech gadget that warns users of high temperatures from the surface it is attached to by sounding an inbuilt alarm
AudiosourceRE won the gold award in the Research Spinout/3rd Level category. AudiosourceRE has developed innovative technology for separating and manipulating music and audio files
The competition recognises innovative, successful and aspirational Irish startup companies who have launched their businesses in the last five years. This year, awards were presented to deserving winners across 13 categories including tech, retail, product and tourism with gold, silver and bronze winners being awarded in each category.
Gavin Kelly, CEO Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland, said “We are delighted to partner with the Startup Awards for the fifth year running. The awards provide a platform to promote young companies on a national stage. As the largest lender to the Irish economy we are committed to supporting new and emerging entrepreneurs as they grow and develop their business and we have been incredibly impressed by the high standard of entries that have come through this competition. On behalf of Bank of Ireland, I would like to congratulate all of our winners and runners up.”
Joe Healy, HPSU Divisional Manager, Enterprise Ireland, said “Enterprise Ireland supports Irish companies with global ambition to grow their businesses and to scale internationally, with a particular focus on innovative start-ups. Encouragement and mentorship are fundamental elements of our support system and for this reason, we are delighted to partner with the National Startup Awards. The Awards provide these companies with the foundation from which they can grow and thrive within the start-up ecosystem. It is always exciting for us to see the quality of start-up companies emerging across the country and the innovative ideas and products they are bringing to the fore, and I look forward to seeing what is ahead for this year’s winners and runners up.”
Commenting on the Awards, Stephen Dillon, Founder of Startups.ie, said “Once again we were amazed and inspired by the quality and passion of the Startups involved in this year’s awards. With the National Startup Awards we are proud to recognise and reward the very best of Irish startup businesses. A vibrant Startup eco system is essential to every economy and judging by the quality of this years competition the future for Irish Startups is very bright indeed. We hope that all of the participants enjoyed the experience and we look forward to watching their progress over the coming years. Well done to all our finalists and congratulations to this years winners. ”
For more information on the awards visit www.startupawards.ie or the Bank of Ireland Twitter account @BOIbusiness using the dedicated hastag #Startupawards.
About the Start Up Awards:
The Startup Awards are run by Startups.ie, in partnership with Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, and are open to sole traders, partnerships and companies in business for five years or less with up to 30 employees.
