From being employee number one to CEO, Frank Brennan has acquired Cork’s start-up hub, Republic of Work, from Dan and Linda Kiely and co-founder Dave Ronayne.
Cork’s Republic of Work is a mainstay of the innovation and start-up community in Cork, having been founded nine years ago by Dave Ronayne and DC Cahalane. Now it’s starting a new chapter with a buyout of its investors and co-founder by its CEO Frank Brennan.
Voxpro co-founders and serial investors Dan and Linda Kiely invested some €250,000 in the hub when it struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic, but financial details of this week’s acquisition by Brennan have not been made public.
Brennan has worked at the heart of Republic of Work having been its first employee back in 2016. Today Republic of Work has five full-time employees and houses some 170 companies.
Republic of Work was listed in the top 50 of Europe’s best startup hubs last year by The Financial Times, ranking in the Top 2 in Ireland. Now Brennan hopes to lead the innovation and co-working space to even greater things.
“Over the last number of years I’ve been involved in scaling up operations, and, given the huge growth potential that still exists, I see this as an opportune time to take over the company and begin a new chapter,” said Brennan. “Enterprise Ireland has a really ambitious drive for the next five years to support a thousand start-ups and ROW will be part of that mix.”
He thanked the Kieleys and Ronayne for their input and their efforts to “keep the business afloat” during the pandemic. “Thankfully, post-Covid, the company soared with working from home policies in place and remote working a new chapter in employment,” said Brennan.
“Linda and I backed Republic of Work because it matters. Cork has so many ambitious founders, and founders need community, momentum and the right environment to build,” said Dan Kiely. “Republic of Work has consistently delivered that, through good times and very challenging ones. Frank is the ideal next owner. He understands the DNA of the place because he helped create it.”
“It’s been fascinating to see the trajectory of the organisation over the last few years. Cork is a dynamic county with a lot of talent,” said Dave Ronayne, who is CEO of Irish Mainport. “We have been on an exciting journey with ROW. I wish Frank the best of luck with ROW and I look forward to seeing it develop and grow even further.”
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