Two NovaUCD Start-Ups Among Eight Finalists Shortlisted for KPMG Tech Innovator Competition
KPMG Ireland today announced the eight start-ups shortlisted for the inaugural Ireland qualifier of the KPMG Global Tech Innovator competition.
Among the shortlisted companies are, Akkure Genomics and Equal1 Laboratories, both headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin (UCD).
The eight shortlisted companies were selected from almost 50 entries, and they will now go forward to pitch their innovations and growth ambitions, on Friday 24 September, to a panel of judges which includes, Fiona Gallagher, CEO of Wells Fargo International Bank UC; Gareth Lambe, Head of Facebook Ireland; Nicola McClafferty, Partner at Draper Esprit; serial entrepreneur Mark Cummins and Managing Partner of KPMG in Ireland, Seamus Hand.
The overall winner in Ireland will progress to the final at Web Summit 2021 in Lisbon in November, where they will compete with the finalists from 17 other countries for the title of KPMG Global Tech Innovator. The prize also includes travel and accommodation to Lisbon, tickets to Web Summit as part of KPMG’s delegation, an exhibition stand for 1 day, and access to exclusive networking events and mentoring opportunities.
Akkure Genomics, a fintech powered medical data exchange trading platform where individuals unlock the value of their data to access clinical trials and precision medical services. The platform ‘matchmaking’ aims to increase the recruitment and retention of patients participating in clinical trials, along with access to personalised clinical services.
Earlier this year the company, founded in 2019 by Professor Oran Rigby, a consultant in intensive care medicine and surgery, and Dr Amy Hollingworth, a respiratory and lung transplant specialist, secured €1.2 million via a crowd funding campaign on the Spark Crowdfunding Platform.
Equal1 Laboratories, a UCD spin-out company, specialises in the design and build of quantum computers that will enable the world to solve problems that cannot be solved today at a fraction of the energy. It has the vision of democratising quantum computing and making it available to everyone. The scalable, cost-effective technology provides a quantum computing path that will impact the trajectory of AI.
The company recently announced that it is the first company to demonstrate a fully integrated quantum processor unit (QPU) operating at 3.7 kelvin ― a major milestone with implications for the trajectory of quantum computing.
Equal1 was founded by Dirk Leipold, Mike Asker and Professor R. Bogdan Staszewski as a spin-out from the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and has offices and in California as well as at NovaUCD. Earlier this year the company was named the winner of the 2021 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award.
Anna Scally, Head of Technology and Media, Fintech lead, KPMG in Ireland, said “Irish tech companies are amongst the best in the word. We’re looking for the game-changers in innovation with the ambition to take their businesses to the next level.”
The six other companies shortlisted are ApisProtect, CattleEye, CitySwift, Dataships, ID-Pal and Wrkit.
The event will be broadcast live at 12 pm on Friday, 24th September on www.kpmg.ie.
ENDS
17 September 2021
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, UCD Research and Innovation, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.