NDRC

Today NDRC celebrates three years of helping build a thriving startup ecosystem in Ireland - supporting thousands of founders and hundreds of companies. Some of the highlights so far? 🌟 €56m raised by NDRC startups 🌟 €180m raised by the entire portfolio 🌟 650+ new jobs created in Ireland 🌟 30% women-led or co-led investments We’re also proud to announce a 2-year contract extension to continue supporting entrepreneurs and their ambition to make Ireland the best place in Europe to build a startup company, with thanks to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. This has been a collective effort powered by partner hubs Dogpatch Labs (Dublin), PorterShed (Galway), RDI Hub (Kerry) and Republic of Work (Cork), and supported by an invaluable network of passionate ecosystem builders at home and on an international scale, from VCs to corporate partners, to universities, mentors and speakers. This wouldn’t be possible without each one of you. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eh96cv2a

Build. Pitch. Iterate. Repeat. Last month's Startup Sprint 'Best Pitch' was won by Limerick's Kepri Solar team, a group of engineers and builders at Immersive Software Engineering course in UL. Six weeks later, they've a functional MVP inside a customer's home. Connect with the team below

The countdown is on. Only days away from the first NDRC Pre-Accelerator Showcase in Cork’s Republic of Work, where you get a front seat to Ireland’s future startup success stories. Have you got your ticket yet?  Get in at the ground level at this April’s NDRC Pre-Accelerator Showcase, where 20 early-stage startups pitch exclusively, live on stage at Cork’s Republic of Work. Get to know who’s pitching with a first look at six startup founders: Miriam Schmidberger (Professional Profile Analytics), Jason O'Regan (Planufacture), Gavin Crowley (YouMon), Emer Shovlin (Cassan Earth), Md Nafiul Adnan Chowdhury (TrainerBro), and Noe Yungaicela, PhD (AIMA), and 14 more exclusive startup pitches. The next big startup success story starts here—will you be in the room? RSVP for limited tickets: https://lu.ma/q9ytgz9u

Wrapping up this morning’s NDRC Masterclass: Forming a Startup Founding Team, delivered by Dushyant Singh. Some great insights shared on building and formalising a strong founding team - setting roles and responsibilities, equity agreements, and vesting schedules, as well as the key traits that make founding teams successful. A huge thank you to Brian O'Rourke, Co-founder and CEO of CitySwift, for joining us for a fireside chat and sharing his experience: 💬 " Alan and I share the same motivations with different mindsets... we each use our individual strengths to then work together." 💬 "You need to have a real desire to be the best at what you do." 💬 "We’re lucky that the CitySwift's mission is strong. We’re doing 'tech for good' - that’s a key message that helped build our culture organically and attract talent." Plenty more Masterclasses to come - stay tuned. To stay up to date on all things NDRC, find out more: https://lnkd.in/dR2FdtG 📸 Anthony Shaughnessy Republic of Work | RDI Hub | Republic of Work

We often get asked, “So, what does the Pre-Accelerator look like week to week?”. Former founder and NDRC regional lead Christopher Barrett is here to pull back the curtain. Evening workshops, flexible check-ins with mentors, and curated groups for peer-to-peer support — it’s a no-brainer experience for busy entrepreneurs working on their side hustle. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/e_hqFANa Applications for the NDRC Summer Cohort close 27 April 2025. Led by RDI Hub. Supported by Dogpatch Labs, Republic of Work and PorterShed

Why did over eighty entrepreneurs travel to Limerick last weekend? Attracting mentors like Tracworx founders, ISE’s Roisin Lyons, PhD, and twenty others to lend an entrepreneurial ear? Limerick’s first NDRC Startup Sprint, of course! RDI Hub’s Kerry MacConnell met with founders on the day, pulling out their startup stories, and asking them why it was worth making the trip: “Today is an opportunity to really test our ideas in front of everyone.” NDRC Startup Sprint levels the playing field. One full day dedicated to hacking, building, mentorship, pitching, and connecting into the NDRC startup network. Couldn’t make it this time? Experience the magic through founders' eyes in our blog below. Applications for the next Founder Weekend opening soon. Register your Interest: https://lnkd.in/e4VgWwQs

Huge thank you to the @NDRC and @RDI HUB for an incredible Start-Up Generation Day in Limerick this past Saturday! The energy, ideas, and support were truly inspiring. A special shoutout to the amazing Christopher Barrett who brought so much wisdom to the event before heading off on an Arctic exploration—best of look! Also want to thank my fantastic teammates David Moore, Aoibheann Mangan and Emer O'Connor all amazing Immersive Software Engineering students at University of Limerick, and @Maria McGrath for their dedication and creativity. Thank you to the mentors who guided us throughout the day. Especially Roisin Bennett , Ben Sheehan and Ben Fitzgerald Kiely. Your insights and advice made all the difference! Excited for what's ahead! #StartUpGeneration #Entrepreneurship #Innovation

I took a chance last Saturday, I went to NDRC tech Start up sprint with my 4 year old daughter. The plan was to let her lead the day, and be ready to leave at any point. She was amazing and I’m so glad I took the chance. Made it out of my heat to the main stage with 8 others amazing ideas out of 80 participants. This surpassed my expectations. What really made my day was the kindness from everyone and the people who came up to me, said I inspired them, motivated them and were cheering me on and helping me out! We won the day, we made progress on the idea I’d done nothing with since a failed attempt to get going in Oct/Nov. So proud of my daughter for making the most of the day, to 2 ladies who supported me and played with my daughter while I spoke to industry experts (you know who you are thank you). To Christopher for not throwing me out, supporting me and making me feel so welcome and for hosting an unbelievable startup sprint with the NDRC. And everyone for the positivity and support. So glad I followed through, I thought we’d only last a few hours but we made it to the end of the day! My little girl exceeded my expectations and when I ask her if she wanted to go home at 6pm she said no she was having fun. Her comments on my main stage pitch was I never mentioned the ice cream business, fair enough so we’re going to do an ice cream sale one day this summer just for her. Get in contact for simplified, lean, integrated compliance quality management systems and the AI version of my business is in the works! (1 system compliance with #Food, #pharma, #ESG, #AI, #GDPR, H&S and any other piece of legislation that applies to your business). One place to manage all of this not multiple platforms. #efficient #easy and #effective Emma Heaton-Esposito thank for this picture I’m so happy you got it and for your support.

Fast becoming Ireland’s darling in transport data, Galway-based CitySwift today announces APAC expansion with a new Hong Kong partnership deal. Did you know its CEO and co-founder Brian O'Rourke is joining us for an exclusive fireside at NDRC #Masterclass this week? A great success story for the West, entrepreneurs from all over Ireland can learn from Brian’s journey founding his startup team with Alan Farrelly, building the platform to level up public transport, and scaling the company to worldwide markets. Have you registered yet? Save your spot for Wednesday 02 April’s exclusive session: https://lnkd.in/eHSuqz_y Dushyant Singh | PorterShed | Dogpatch Labs | Republic of Work | RDI Hub

When a pitch hits home, you just know! It’s a great day when you’re listening to a startup pitch, and suddenly, you realize… "Wait a minute, I NEED this!" That’s exactly what happened when Gavin Rooney and John Veevers pitched AnotherTrip HQ to Menno and Malaika from the NDRC Accelerator team. We’ve all been there: scrolling Instagram for travel inspo, getting hyped for a trip, and then… the chaos begins. Endless WhatsApp threads, lost links, confusion over dates and budgets. Not anymore! Meet AnotherTrip HQ - the latest startup in this year's NDRC Accelerator! It's making group travel effortless—seamlessly helping you build itineraries, coordinate plans, and align with friends directly from your favorite social apps. Planning a trip has never been this smooth. Applications for the NDRC Accelerator close TODAY! Don’t miss your chance to join the 2025 cohort. Apply now: https://lnkd.in/e94waHnU #NDRCAccelerator #StartupLife #GroupTravel #AnotherTrip #FounderJourney #TravelTech