Atlantic Photonic Solutions Ltd from Castlebar and Venari Medical from Galway, have been have been crowned ‘Best New Start’ company and ‘Best Early Stage’ company respectively, each walking away with €20,000, at the Connacht & Leinster Final of the 2019 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition. Both companies fought off tough competition having delivered an investment pitch in front of an expert judging panel.
Seedcorn is the island’s biggest business competition for innovative new start and early stage businesses in any sector. The winners from each of the four regions will go onto compete in the all-island final in Dublin on the 28th November where the overall ‘Best New Start’ and ‘Best Early Stage’ companies will be announced winning €50,000 each, and ultimately the ‘Overall Winner’ who will pocket €100,000 to contribute to their business growth.
Atlantic Photonic Solutions Ltd have developed a harmless fish-friendly light that aims to remove sea lice from farmed salmon.
Commenting on their win, Rory Casey, Managing Director at Atlantic Photonic Solutions Ltd said;
“I am really delighted and proud to win the regional award. I am aware of the quality of the competition, and to win gives me great validation of my business plan. The whole Seedcorn journey has been extremely beneficial, from the drafting and preparation of the business plan, to the investor pitch master class. Each step has examined the foundations of the APS business plan, and it feels great to come through each test. The prize money is a bonus, which will be well used as we go into field trials."
Venari Medical, is a National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) spin-out company founded in 2018 by Stephen Cox, Sean Cummins, and Dr. Nigel Phelan. The company is developing the world’s first pain-free and effective treatment for Chronic Venous Disease that utilises the body’s natural response to restore healthy circulation.
Commenting on their win, Stephen Cox, CEO of Venari Medical said;
"We are delighted to be chosen as ‘Best Early Stage’ company in the Connacht & Leinster Final. The Seedcorn competition has proven to be an invaluable experience for Venari Medical, providing networking and business model development opportunities to shape the future vision and execution of the company. We look forward to the finals at the end of the month among a very strong field of competition. We wish all companies the very best of luck for the future."
To date, InterTradeIreland has supported over 2,300 enterprising companies through the Seedcorn process. With almost €254m in equity funding being secured by entrepreneurs who have entered the Seedcorn competition it emphasises its position as the premier competition for high growth start-up companies on the island of Ireland.
