The luck of the Irish continues to work its magic as these successful start-ups have been making waves Stateside.
While the first few months of the year have not been without its Stateside drama, the US remains a natural place to consider for start-ups to consider when growing their businesses internationally.
Data from Dealroom shows that the US continues to lead globally in terms of VC investment over the past few years, so it’s no surprise that it’s a major target for Irish start-ups when it comes to expanding their footprint.
In fact, Atlanta is one of three new international offices that Enterprise Ireland announced in at the launch of its strategy, which it officially opened this week. And with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, TD currently on his official St Patrick’s Day visit to the US, SiliconRepublic.com wanted to take a closer look at just some of the Irish start-ups that have been making waves across the pond.
Numra
Numra, formerly known as Autonifai, was founded by David Kearney and Conor Digan in 2023. Its platform uses AI to streamline complex workflows for finance and accounting teams with tasks such as data entry, reconciliations and error investigations. The idea is to help companies save time and reduce errors.
Last May, it raised €1.5m in funding to increase its headcount and expand to the US market.
Protex AI
Limerick company Protex AI was founded in 2021 by CEO Dan Hobbs and CTO Ciarán O’Mara. The workplace safety start-up provides an AI-powered platform that plugs into CCTV devices and uses computer vision to capture unsafe events autonomously.
IN 2022, the start-up bagged $18m in funding to expand across both Europe and the US and, earlier this year, it secured another $36m to continue its US expansion.
Offr
Founded in 2019 by Robert Hoban, Philip Farrell and Niall Dawson, Offr is a proptech company that digitises the process of buying or selling property.
In 2023, the company raised €2.1m to expand in the US and other markets. The funding round was co-led by Chicago-based Second Century Ventures, the venture capital arm of the National Association of Realtors in the US.
Output Sports
Output Sports is a spin-out of University College Dublin (UCD) and was founded in 2018 by Dr Martin O’Reilly, Dr Darragh Whelan, Julian Eberle and Prof Brian Caulfield.
Last year, the company, which specialises in data services for elite sports teams, spoke of its plans to target the US during a meeting with Leo Varadkar during his US visit in his capacity as Taoiseach in 2024. Earlier this year, it scored $4.8m to further its US expansion.
Swoop
Fintech Swoop was founded in 2017 as a one-stop shop for small and medium-sized businesses to find the right funding. In 2023, the start-up was declared the fastest-growing tech company in Ireland in the Deloitte Fast 50 annual ranking.
The company has been targeting the US market for some time now, having raised €6.3m for international expansion in 2022 and an investment from Sandbox Industries at the beginning of this year to expand its US reach further.
Wayflyer
Founded in 2019 by Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse, Wayflyer provides e-commerce merchants with a range of financing and marketing analytics tools to help them access working capital, improve cash flow and drive sales.
Having become an Irish unicorn in 2022, the company has secured major funding and deals on the road to its US goals, including a $1bn deal from US investment management firm Neuberger Berman in 2023 and the acquisition of US business-to-business marketplace MadeMeBuyIt at the start of this month.
ZeroMission
Founded in 2022 by Leah O’Dwyer and Kevin Christopher and based in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, ZeroMission provides fleet management software to companies operating commercial electric vehicle (EV) fleets.
Last year, the company secured $3m in funding to expand its operations in both Europe and the US. Its software is already being used by transit bus operators in California along with other US companies operating EVs for employee commuter services.
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