15 Top Startups in Ireland 2024

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the best startups in Ireland of 2024 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow. 

Disclaimer: With so many exciting startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

• Industry: Fintech
• Founders:  Peter Burridge
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Series A, $53.6 Million
• Investors Include: Finch Capital, Outpost Ventures

NomuPay is impacting the financial industry with its unified payment (uP) Platform that allows businesses to accept payments and carry out disbursements in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Turkey through just one system integration. It's designed to help companies expand quickly and strategically by providing a range of solutions including alternate payment methods, real-time payout disbursements, and seamless funds management.

Their system doesn't just process transactions but it streamlines end-to-end fund flows and can be adapted to suit unique business needs. With the provision of APIs for quick integration and a dedicated technical support team for implementation, NomuPay ensures a seamless transition for businesses adopting their platform.

• Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Hospitality
• Founders:  Conor Sheridan
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Seed, $9.7 Million
• Investors Include: Triple Point Ventures, Playfair Capital, CircleRock Capital

Nory AI is an AI-powered “operating system” designed specifically for the hospitality sector to enhance operations and boost profitability. The platform learns how businesses operate and assists with tasks like sales forecasting, labor planning, and inventory management. 

It even offers a suite of performance management tools and business intelligence features. The ultimate value proposition of Nory AI is the opportunity for businesses to achieve significant reductions in labor costs and food waste, in addition to saving countless administrative hours.

• Industry: Biotechnology, Cannabis
• Founders:  George Bellow, Michael Sassano
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series A, €22.3 Million
• Investors Include: Undisclosed

SOMAÍ Pharmaceuticals is pushing boundaries in the world of cannabis-based therapeutics. Their vision revolves around forging a healthier world through natural cannabis medicine, and they're developing a robust portfolio of cannabis-based products aimed at chronic patients with various medical conditions. 

One of the company's main differentiators is its commitment to EU-GMP standards, which make sure their treatments are delivered effectively and consistently across all markets.

• Industry: Apps, Insurtech
• Founders:  Luke Mackey
• Founded In: 2022
• Funding: Seed, €7.7 Million
• Investors Include: EQT Ventures, Northzone, Frontline Ventures 

Kota is transforming the way companies manage and scale core employee benefits such as health insurance and pensions. Their platform is working to simplify the often convoluted benefits administration process through features like HR tools syncing, automated payroll reconciliation, and an employee app. Offering the ability to benchmark against local market data and to design competitive benefits packages, Kota is a powerful tool for modern globally distributed teams.

• Industry: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Founders:  Alan Farrelly, Brian O'Rourke
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: €14 Million
• Investors Include:  Act Venture Capital,  Gresham House Ventures, Irelandia Investments

CitySwift is revolutionizing bus networks through a data platform that collects, analyzes, and connects bus data to provide crucial insights. The platform helps bus networks in making informed decisions by simulating scenarios and understanding the origin-destination flows. As it currently stands, CitySwift's AI-powered platform is well-positioned and aimed at improving network punctuality, reliability, and efficiency.

• Industry: Edtech, E-Learning
• Founders:  Deirdre Lyons
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Seed, €1.6 Million
• Investors Include: Dogpatch Labs

Examfly is an edtech startup that's shaking up the world of professional exam preparation. The platform blends interactive technologies with techniques from educational psychology to create an optimized learning experience. From animated explainer videos to interactive games and personalized performance analysis tools, Examfly makes learning quicker, more enjoyable, and far more impactful than traditional methods.

Examfly doesn’t just make studying faster and more enjoyable – it provides students with a unique edge, and with its growing popularity among big accounting firms and educational bodies it’s evident that this innovative approach is making waves in the realm of education technology.

• Industry:  Software, Information Technology (IT)
• Founders:  Shane Curran
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series A, $19.4 Million
• Investors Include: Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Next Play Ventures 

Evervault is a software company that offers a suite of platform features designed to enhance security while ensuring easy integration into existing infrastructure. One of the main offerings is the ability to set clear rules on how and when encrypted data can be decrypted. Evervault provides full visibility into how its services are used alongside features such as team activity tracking, logging of resource actions, and much more.

• Industry: Edtech, Education
• Founders: Phillip McKenna, Oisin Devoy
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Pre-Seed, €790,000 
• Investors Include:  Ciaran Lee,  Des Traynor, European Regional Development Fund 

SimpleStudy is an online platform that’s completely transforming the way students prepare for their Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle exams. The platform provides a wealth of resources like study notes, essays, questions, and quizzes for over 37 subjects. With tools like a CAO points calculator, grade tracker and progress tracker SimpleStudy is making studying smarter, not harder. Their track record is also fairly impressive with 97% of users reporting improved exam results.

• Industry: Supply Chain Management
• Founders: John Tuohy
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Seed, €5.4 Million
• Investors Include:  Business Venture Partners, Themvar

OOHPod is a parcel locker service offering convenience around the clock. Their flexible subscription plans and secure lockers are designed to make parcel delivery and collection hassle-free. 

Users can receive parcels at any OOHPod locker in Northern Ireland or Ireland and locker locations are easily found on the website. OOHPod is committed to enhancing delivery trends and promoting eco-friendly solutions.

• Industry: Software 
• Founders:  Laura Tortosa Sancho, Werner Schmidt
• Founded In: 2022
• Funding: Seed, €2.7 Million
• Investors Include: Elkstone Capital Partners, Handshake Ventures, WestWave Capital 

Lative offers a data-driven platform designed to enhance sales performance, efficiency, and proactive planning. It provides valuable insights that allow users to understand what's driving their success or where improvements could be made. 

The platform offers advanced planning tools that can help users anticipate market shifts, adjust strategies in real-time, and align their efforts with company goals. The automated, continuous, and accurate data-driven insights provided by Lative allow users to keep pace with evolving business demands while planning confidently for the future.

• Industry: Cybersecurity 
• Founders:  Jack Fitzsimons, Robert Pisarczyk
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Seed, $6.9 Million
• Investors Include: Atlantic Bridge, Act Venture Capital, Firestreak Ventures

Oblivious is making a name for itself in the world of cloud computing with its privacy-enabling software. The company helps businesses deploy cryptographically secure cloud containers that can be integrated into existing development workflows without the need for complex systems or custom languages. 

Besides providing the tools companies need to ensure privacy, Oblivious also makes concerted efforts to engage stakeholders in the privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) community through events and competitions.

• Industry: Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Founders:  Greg Michaelson, Jason Hillary, Phily Hayes
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Pre-Seed, €3.8 Million
• Investors Include: Elkstone Capital Partners, Intel Ignite

Zerve AI is working to provide a unified space for data science and machine learning teams to collaborate, build, and deploy projects. Its platform offers features such as programming language interoperability, unlimited parallelization, and automatic versioning of analysis artifacts. 

Zerve AI aims to improve velocity, quality, and collaboration for data science teams and organizations developing AI products by providing a platform that handles the entire data science project lifecycle.

• Industry: SaaS, Developer Tools
• Founders: David Tuite
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Seed, $3.7 Million
• Investors Include: Boldstart Ventures, Firstminute Capital

Roadie is an automated platform designed to update Backstage instances regularly, ensuring their safety. They enhance security by offering single sign-on (SSO) and dedicated infrastructure., as well as introduce a no-code plugin and feature management to Backstage which streamlines diverse issues like access and permissions management. On top of that, they also connect to internal infrastructures securely which makes this platform a preferred choice for organizations dealing with hyper-growth challenges.

• Industry: Energy
• Founders: Don O'Leary, Dave Curran
• Founded In: 2023
• Funding: Pre-Seed, €1.5 Million
• Investors Include: Cavalry Ventures, Übermorgen Ventures

Openvolt is an API designed to make smart meter data in Europe more accessible and easy to use for developers. It handles the complexity of integrating with several smart meter data aggregation systems across the continent, and not only does it provide access to crucial data but Openvolt also ensures compliance with regulations related to the access of smart meter data.

The simple premise here is that Openvolt is simplifying the work of developers and providing a seamless experience for them so they can focus on what they do best: creating impactful applications. The balance between accessibility, usability, and compliance makes Openvolt a valuable tool for developers looking to harness the power of smart meter data in Europe.

• Industry: Information Technology (IT), Software 
• Founders:  Dee Coakley, Eamon Leonard, Emily Castles
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Seed, €4.4 Million
• Investors Include: Seedcamp, Ada Ventures, FYRFLY Venture Partners

Boundless offers a global employment solution that takes care of all local employment concerns from issuing employment agreements to managing payroll and compliance with local laws. They take the headache out of navigating international hiring regulations. 

Offering constant adherence to local employment laws in different countries, streamlined payroll and tax management, one-click processing, and even guidance from dedicated employment specialists, Boundless appears to be living up to its name when it comes to helping companies hire internationally.

Recommended: Check out our full list of the top startups to watch!