Innovative Dublin startups progress to Seedcorn for €130,000 funding opportunity
InterTradeIreland has announced the winners of the Dublin regional final of its all-island Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition, with RocketBox, TutorGrowth and Peak 15 Bio recognised for the strength of their business propositions and growth potential.
As regional winners, the companies now progress to the all-island final in Belfast, where they will compete for a €130,000 funding opportunity, part of a total €800,000 prize fund.
The winning projects emerged from a competitive field of more than 300 early-stage ventures as part of InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn competition, an all-island initiative that supports innovative businesses at seed, start-up and early stages of development.
- RocketBox has won the B2B award;
- TutorGrowth has won the B2C award;
- Peak 15 Bio has won the Deep Tech award.
Commenting, Shane O’Hanlon, Funding for Growth Manager at InterTradeIreland said:
InterTradeIreland would like to congratulate the winners of our Dublin regional Seedcorn competition, whose innovative ideas, commercial ambition and high-quality pitches impressed the judging panel. The standard in this year’s competition has been particularly high, and competitions such as Seedcorn provide much more than the opportunity to compete for funding; they give SMEs and entrepreneurs access to expert feedback, help them strengthen their investor readiness and provide valuable exposure to investors and business networks that can support future growth.
Accepting the win, Melanie Cronin, Co-Founder of RocketBox, winner of the B2B award said:
Winning the regional Seedcorn final is a fantastic acknowledgement of the whole RocketBox team’s work to date. It has also allowed us to sharpen our investment proposition and learn from experts as we target a wider international market.
Sean Langan, Founder of TutorGrowth, winner of the B2C award said:
InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn programme proved incredibly valuable for our team, in that we learned exactly where we needed to focus our efforts to ensure our business could be as strong as possible. Participating in the programme means our goals are ambitious yet realistic, and we look forward to building on our successes.
Mark O’Neill, Co-Founder of Peak 15 Bio, winner of the Deep Tech award said:
Through Peak 15 Bio’s CanVas platform, we aim to have a transformative impact on patients’ lives by creating cell therapies for serious diseases. These target indications currently have very limited treatments available. The Peak 15 team have benefitted greatly from the Seedcorn competition’s mentoring sessions and network.
In addition to advancing in the competition, participants have benefitted from valuable expert feedback on their business models and investor pitches, helping to strengthen investor readiness, refine growth strategies and raise their profile among potential investors.
Seedcorn is open to independent ventures incorporated on the island of Ireland that are targeting export and international market opportunities, especially in the seed, start-up and early stages of development. The competition provides founders and management teams with practical experience of presenting to investors while helping them prepare for future fundraising opportunities.
O’Hanlon continued:
Finalists at our Dublin regional competition represented a diverse range of sectors, showcasing the innovation, ambition and talent in the region. In addition, the calibre of businesses taking part clearly demonstrates the strength of entrepreneurship across the island. We look forward to seeing our regional winners in the all-island final in Belfast and we wish them every success in the next stage of the competition.
