A total of 10 of Northern Ireland’s high-growth potential startups have been awarded £10,000 each as a proof-of-concept grant by technology incubator Catalyst.
They are part of a cohort of 18 teams which have graduated from the organisation’s early-stage entrepreneurship programme Co-Founders.
The funding has been provided by both Catalyst and technology investment company Techstart Ventures and must be used to help validate the startup’s businesses and develop their ideas.
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Co-Founders brings together people from diverse backgrounds who are interested in creating a start-up with high-growth potential in a safe, risk-free environment.
Aligning with the sustainable development goal of ‘good health and wellbeing’, one team, Forgetmenot, is focusing on a platform to ease the pressures of dementia care, primarily aiming to support and help informal carers. Another team, Plugable, is looking at access to home chargers and new public infrastructure to support EV adoption, working towards the SDGs of ‘affordable and clean energy’ and ‘sustainable cities and communities’.
Companies across a range of sectors including Greentech, Fintech, Health & Wellbeing, and Education, were among the recipients of the funding.
The recipients of the awards are: Pangea, MDD Systems Ltd, Wavve, Plugable, PropAI, Forgetmenot, ElectrifyMe Ltd, Now Doctor Ltd, Agewell and Willow.
The winners took part in Pitch Night at The MAC to pitch their ideas.
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“Pitch Night is the culmination of the Co-Founders programme and is all about celebrating and elevating the voices of our co-founders, past and present, providing them with the opportunity to make connections beyond the programme within the start-up ecosystem, and gain insight from those who have been there and done it before,” she said. “I wish all of our founders every success as they move forward.”
Kathleen Garrett, Head of Proof of Concept Grants at Techstart Ventures, congratulated the winners.
“We have seen some fantastic teams graduate from Co-Founders 2023, and we’re delighted to have partnered with Catalyst to provide the £100k grant funding to 10 of the teams. This funding will help fuel start-up growth in Northern Ireland as the Co-Founders teams look to take their ideas to the next level.”