Silicon Ireland News Wire

Off to the biggest Mobile tech event MWC 2012

2012-02-25T17:59:00.000Z

Silicon Ireland will be in Barcelona from Monday covering the Mobile World Congress 2012. We also will be at the Mobile Hero of the fringe event.

We aim to cover the event and the mobile companies from Ireland, who are exhibiting and taking part.
What is the event about:-

'Far more than a mere communication device, mobiles now serve as our books, health monitors, payment transfer devices, social connectors and tour guides. Mobile technology is embedded in our cars, homes, appliances, governments and utilities. Mobile is enhancing and expanding education and thus, transforming the world. Mobile World Congress 2012 will celebrate the current state of mobile and offer a glimpse into where mobile has the potential to go next.

Depending on the pass you select, you can participate in the many components that make up Mobile World Congress:

A world-class thought-leadership conference featuring visionary keynotes and panel discussions
A cutting-edge product and technology exhibition featuring 1,400 exhibitors
The world’s best venue for seeking industry opportunities, making deals, and networking
App Planet, the Centre of the Mobile Apps Universe
The Global Mobile Awards programme, where we recognize innovations and advancement in the industry
and our newest programme, mPowered Brands, where global marketers and agencies increase knowledge of mobile marketing and immediately connect with mobile players to bring their visions to reality.

The 2011 Mobile World Congress was the largest and most exciting event to date, yet we’re planning an even better event in 2012. Mark your calendars now – you won’t want to miss it!
Get in touch if you want to meetup at the event.

See you there

TechCrunch at Barcelona – Panels, Startups, Lunch & Networking during MWC

2012-02-24T14:52:00.000Z

News about the Techcrunch @ Barcelona ( as posted by M Butcher -Re-posted)
by Mike Butcher

on February 22, 2012

(TechCrunch) are at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year we’re teaming up with the creators of an awesome new event which runs alongside MWC, called Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival. Consider this the “Off Broadway” or Fringe Festival of MWC, where you get to actually talk about the real issues in the mobile startup ecosystem in a lively debate format.

This interactive event will feature some of the most innovative and interesting startups and investors on the scene. Sponsored by Oracle, GetTaxi, Telesocial and Swiftkey (with further sponsorship opportunities available), this should be a great way to kick start your week in Barcelona.

So here are the details for our TechCrunch @ Barcelona Lunch Meetup:

Date: Monday 27th February

Time: Doors open at 12.30 for a prompt 1pm start. We will be serving a sit-down lunch. Doors close at 3.30pm.
Location: “Aquarella” Restaurant

Venue: Aquarella, Gran Via 572, 08011 Barcelona. (Two Metro stops to Universitat or a short cab ride from La Fira. A MWC12 Exhibition ticket is NOT required for entry).

Tickets: Available to purchase here

Exhibition tables: Available to purchase here

As well as a lunch attended by the main players in the scene, we’ll be having two panel discussion. One from a mobile start-up perspective and the other from an investor / corporate perspective.

Themes for the panel discussion:

• Building mobile startups to get big fast
• Mobile games
• Raising VC for mobile startups
• Making the app stores work for you
• Getting Carriers excited about your app
• Monetization and app distribution secrets
• The rise of the tablet economy
• New devices breaking onto the market
• Developing for the platforms – the latest trends amongst startups
• And plenty more besides!

If you’d like to sponsors the event, please email Helen Keegan on helen (AT) beepmarketing.com

SCHEDULE

12.30 – Doors open to guests

1.00 – Everyone is seated and first course is served

1.15 – 1.45 WELCOME

( as a side note Silicon Ireland will also be there covering the fringe from the Irish perspective and the conference. We will be talking to BoxPay about their year so far and many more.)

Are you looking to Invest in startups ?

2012-02-24T10:02:00.001Z

Angel Investing London Pitching Event -

The event is next week on Wednesday 29th February and is being hosted by Norton Rose LLP at their fantastic offices in London Bridge.
* Drinks Reception - 5.30 - 6pm
* Pitching - 6 - 7pm
* Tradefair / Q&A - 7 - 8.30pm

6 fantastic entrepreneurs will be pitching. Here's a taster of the companies that'll be there;

* Medical company with 3 devices addressing common clinical needs that are ready for market.
* Innovative coffee machine capsule manufacturer. Rapidly expanding market. Partnership in place with leading coffee shop brand.
* Profitable PPI claims management company - 9 month ROI for investors.
* Leading edge, patent pending, mm-wave antenna technology. US defense contract.
* Subscription membership model for business mobile phones. HoT signed with International B2B retailer.

To apply for tickets, please click on this link
http://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk/investor/150?op=apply&ev_id=cb22bed31e84cb12156ca42b35869429#spf
or email me at rebecca@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk.

Crowdfunding news

2012-02-23T10:55:00.002Z

Crowdfunding bill
Editor's pick

We have been following up the conversation around the so-called Crowdfunding bill, initiated by US Congressman Patrick McHenry. The aim is to extend startup investing from banks and accredited investors to individual, small dollar investors, complementing the financial options for startups. In the investor role the individual will also be able to get the upside of the investment while the startups get capital at better cost.

Imagine the consequence if Facebook could have collected 1$ from, say, the first 2 million users. Patrick McHenry discusses the bill and what it will entail in GrowVC podcast.

New Video
Crowdfunding explained

Startups are recognized players of today’s community - as employers, innovators, visionaries, change agents or tomorrow’s giants. Having a full time career in a startup, however, is not for everyone, but there are ways how ordinary people can have a role in their favorite startup’s development and be part of their success. We’ve just uploaded a new video explaining how. Watch the video!

Milestones and Scorecards
New Tools for Networks Managers

Although assessing startups with traditional measures can be tough it is important they can be evaluated using consistent methods and with key data available. For this purpose we have just introduced the Scorecards tool which is a real must-have tool for network managers when engaging with stakeholders.

The other new tool, Milestones, is closely linked to Scorecards. A task or project identified though Scorecards, will be turned into an achievable target in Milestones - a simple and easy-to-use project management tool for startups and teams.

Interested to learn more about the news tools, please contact Paul Higgins at Paul@Growvc.com>

$200M Fund
Singapore Opportunities

Grow VC has partnered with a $200 million venture capital fund in Singapore. We are inviting proven startups to sign in for the challenge and apply for an investment from the venture capital fund. Companies should be interested in activities in Singapore and Asia, as well as open to accepting an investment of $1-2 Million.

The fund is open for startups globally and those looking for a challenge in Asia, can sign up for more information here. Startups will be contacted if they qualify.

Upcoming events
TSL Capital Creation and Crowdfunding Conference

March 13 and 14 in Los Angeles, California. The TSL Capital Creation and Crowdfunding Conference provides key insights into:

US capital markets regulatory transformation

New growth opportunities

How social media is transforming the Wall Street

As well serves as a great networking platform and topical discussions with key people in the industry.

Grow VC’s co-founder Jouko Ahvenainen will be speaking at the conference and we offer 10% discount to our readers with the code "TheSohoLoftGrowVC”. Sign up!

Barcelona -The Fringe - The News

2012-02-22T13:14:00.000Z

Not long to go now until we descend upon the land of tapas, cava and mobile technology! With more than 35 events happening at this year's festival (and counting), here are a few highlights of what's new, what's on and what's hot at the festival.

Techcrunch comes to Barcelona
Get your tickets now for Techcrunch@Barcelona. A lovely 3-course lunch with wine, 3 discussion panels: 'Mobile Start-Ups. The Disruptors Are Coming!', 'Scaling up and working with large corporates (or not)', 'Elevator Pitches' and networking with 100 or so VCs, start-ups, network operators, and more.

Since I didn't manage to get the newsletter out before the earlybird tickets were all gone, I have a special discount code for my newsletter readers. Use the code Heroes45to get 45 Euros off the price of a standard ticket. It's valid for 24 hours only from 11am on 22 February 2012. Buy your tickets here http://www.amiando.com/TCBarca.html The event is sponsored by Telesocial,Oracle, Get Taxi and Swiftkey. You'll also see Aurasma, Appromoter and PressMatrix on their demo pods. Sponsorship opportunities are still available and we have a couple of pods still available too. Contact me to discuss. And for editorial enquiries and speaker requests, please contact Mike Butcher directlyhttp://uk.techcrunch.com/about.

Start-Up demo opportunity
And while we're on the subject of start-ups, we have an opportunity for start-ups to demo on Sunday afternoon at our Innovation on the Fringe event. If you're interested in showing off what you're up to, please fill in this form. It's free and if you're picked, you'll join 70 others for drinks, snacks, networking a couple of discussion panels and the popular demos. This is a great way to start your week in Barcelona.

Roundtable discussions
We have a series of roundtables happening at GILD on Tuesday. At 11am, we're talking mobile marketing. At midday we're talking Emerging Markets with Pearson and in the afternoon, there's a MEF roundtable discussion looking at privacy and apps. Spaces are very limited and RSVP is required.

Want to host a pop-up event?
We are still looking for some hosts for our pop-up events. Tracey Moberly wants to Text You Up, Eva Kekou wants to talk Neighbourhood Narratives and Julia Shalet, Product Doctor, will help fix your product woes. If you think you can help, please get in touch. There's still time to add your event too. It's free to list, just fill in this form.

See you in Barcelona!

Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Team

The festival is kindly sponsored and supported by Pearson, LumuInvest, Millenoki and Oracle. Find out more about them here.

Paypal to grow in the south

2012-02-21T13:20:00.000Z

PayPal, the leading global online payments company, and Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD today [Tuesday] announced the creation of 1,000 jobs over the next four years at PayPal’s new European Operations Centre in Dundalk, Co Louth. The jobs are supported by Government through IDA Ireland.
The new Dundalk Operations Centre will open in July 2012. It will be eBay Inc.’s third site in Ireland, complementing PayPal and eBay locations in Dublin.

The PayPal centres in Dublin and Dundalk will be responsible for customer service, risk prevention, financial operations, merchant services and sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). PayPal is seeking to fill roles across a range of activities including customer support, operations, finance, sales and compliance. More information about these employment opportunities can be found at http://www.paypal.com/ie/jobsinireland or http://jobs.ebaycareers.com/

Louise Phelan, vice president of global operations for PayPal in EMEA, said “This is a great day for PayPal Ireland and is truly a testament to the proven track record of our existing operation in Ireland. I am very proud to support Irish job creation and look forward to working with our new teammates in Dundalk. IDA Ireland has been a close partner of PayPal’s since we established our first location in 2003, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with IDA in the coming years.

“Our new employees will be joining PayPal at an exciting time. Our vision is to help people pay for things anytime, anywhere and on any type of electronic device. We’re reimagining money to work better for consumers and businesses at a time when the line between the online world and the high street is breaking down. Our new teammates in Dundalk and Dublin will help us create the future of money.”

Making the announcement with PayPal, Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD said “ Today's announcement by PayPal of 1,000 new jobs is great news for Ireland and for the northeast. This is a great signal of confidence in Ireland and in our talented workforce. It is a clear recognition of the opportunities that Ireland offers global leaders like PayPal. Our Action Plan on Jobs published last week will help to ensure that this is just the first of many similar announcements over the coming year."

Lisburn telecoms solutions firm invests in next generation technology

2012-02-20T11:52:00.001Z

Lisburn telecoms solutions firm invests in next generation technology

Arcatech Limited in Lisburn is investing over £450,000 with support from Invest Northern Ireland to design and develop an innovative new product for the global telecoms market.

The company provides simulation and test equipment for network operators, telecoms equipment manufacturers, laboratories and universities throughout Europe, the USA and South East Asia.

Arcatech’s new product will be a testing system which will enable its customers to verify that their equipment operates effectively with the IMS network which provides for IP/Multimedia services.

Invest NI has offered Arcatech over £240,000 of support, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), to help the company meet its customers’ demands for the latest technology as they move beyond the ‘Next Generation Network’ to 4G networks.

Arcatech is collaborating with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) which is responsible for agreeing standards among the various networks and providing continuity between technologies. Working closely with ETSI gives Arcatech advance knowledge of future market needs and the opportunity to develop technically innovative products which will enhance its competitive advantage. This engagement with ETSI has already resulted in a large contract with an Austrian telecom provider.

Tracy Meharg, Invest NI’s Managing Director of Innovation and Capability Development, said: “Arcatech is a small but ambitious company which continues to develop highly technical intellectual property and export the majority of its products to global markets. This R&D investment is an important part of Arcatech’s longer term growth strategy and will help the firm to remain at the cutting edge of the telecom industry’s technological advancements.”

Invest NI’s Boosting Business campaign is encouraging more market-led R&D, specifically among small businesses. It offers small companies up to 75% grant support for R&D projects. Financial support is also available to encourage businesses of any size to undertake prototype development and market entry projects.

Terry Simpson, Arcatech Managing Director, said: “Invest NI’s support will play a central role as we refine our R&D strategy to ensure that our research activities and product development continue to meet the changing needs of the telecoms sector. It is an approach which has already helped us to position ourselves competitively and secure export business. Indeed, I recently addressed the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Saint Petersburg on the challenges facing network providers as they deploy new services on the network. Over the coming months, we aim to become a key supplier of test equipment to the corporations that contribute to ETSI.”

UII Sneak previw - Dublin Event

2012-02-19T18:01:00.000Z

Úll sneak preview.

Tickets

Úll tickets go on sale next Wednesday from 5pm UTC. They're priced at €645.

Here's a sneak preview of some of what we have planned. There are a few things we won't reveal, but here's what we have in store:

Friday, 27th April
The Sugar Club

A keynote from Horace Dediu, of asymco.com
Pre-party with cocktails and live music

Saturday, 28th April
Dublin Castle Coach House

A full day of conference sessions, including:
Michael Lopp, AKA Rands in Repose
Steve Troughton-Smith, Irish hacker extraordinaire
Matt Gemmell, User experience and accessibility zealot
Josh Clark, author of "Tapworthy, Designing Great iPhone Apps"
Micheal Simmons, creator of Fantastical
Kyle Neath, designer at GitHub.com
Catered breakfast and lunch

The Hugh Lane Gallery

"Banquet in a Sculpture Room"

Sunday 29th April
The Odessa Club

Chill out hangover barbeque

Dublin Startup Weekend - The Mentors (Part 2)

2012-02-18T01:30:00.000Z

Mentors (Part II)

Pat Phelan

Pat Phelan is the founder and Director of Products and Innovation at Cubic Telecom. Pat is a profit-driven, get-it-done visionary who delivers business results by harnessing opportunities, creating energized teams, and building strong stakeholder partnerships. A solid track record of building and leading teams to positive outcomes. Pat has a keen interest in social media and is technical blogger of the year in Ireland, Winner of a number of innovation awards, the 2008 IIA & Enterprise Ireland Net Visionary Award, Ireland's most beautiful website from The Irish Web awards and 2007 Emerging company of the year from IT @Cork. Pat was also a Techcrunch 50 finalist in the events inaugural year.

Martha Rotter

Martha is co-founder and Publisher of Idea Magazine. She's a freelance web developer as well as a lecturer for the Masters in Web Technology program at National College of Ireland. She runs OpenCoffee Dublin. She writes about tech and publishing on my technology blog, and she's passionate about developing next generation web and mobile digital publications.

Peter Crowley

Peter founded & exited Webzone Limited (which owns carzone.ie Ireland's number 1 car website) and is now a consultant on internet visibility.

Volodymyr Pigrukh

He's the CEO and co-founder of Profitero, a pricing intelligence service for retailers. Volodymyr gained sales and operational experience at Google, Microsoft and Accenture.

Frederic Herrera

Frederic is currently an advisor at Furious Tribe as well as Enterprise Development Executive & Enterprise Platform Programme Manager at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Arts, Design, and Technology.

Michael FitzGerald

Michael is founder and CEO of OnePageCRM. He also co-owned Cucoco and was a Senior Research Engineer at Bio Medical Research.

Joe Drumgoole

Joe is a product development expert with over 20 years experience in the field. He's also an expert in cloud computing and one of the first users of Amazon cloud in Europe. He's an outstanding team builder who has created successful product teams in both small and large companies.

Ed Byrne

Ed is CEO at of CloudVertical and founder of Digital Mines. As such, he's an expert in cloud computing.

Mary Cronin

An experienced international business professional focusing on stimulating entrepreneurship, developing business strategies and enabling change. Mary works with companies advising in strategic direction and the rationalisation of the core business operations coupled with making operations and product development leaner. Mary is a Lean advocate using various Lean Methdologies and is the organiser of Lean Startup Dublin. She has a strong technical background with a 20+ year track-record of achievement in technology, corporate software and the financial services sector. She works across many sectors including corporate, SME’s, government bodies, not-for-profit organizations, start-ups, innovation and incubation centres both in Ireland and Internationally.

Anatoly Lebedev

Anatoly Lebedev manages an Online Operations team at Google helping companies in Emerging Markets to grow their businesses using AdWords and assisting publishers with content monetization via AdSense. Anatoly frequently interacts with startups and helps them to build their online marketing strategy. Anatoly has both technical background and solid business development skills with over 9 years experience in the Information technology field.

The Mentors for Dublin Startup Weekend

2012-02-17T11:17:00.000Z

Silicon Ireland will be reporting from the event and seeing the new startups being created. Here is the mentor lineup .:-

The Entrepeneur: Eamon Leonard

Very few people have done as much for the Dublin startup ecosystem as Eamon. He brings people together at PubStandards, runs a very high-profile conference (Funconf) and sold his company, Orchestra.io, to EngineYard. Orchestra’s HQ on Barrow Street has already become a hub for startup events.

The VC: Eoghan Jennings

Eoghan Jennings was CFO at Xing, one of the very few European Tech companies that went public, before joining Parklane Capital. But that’s not all, he’s also running StartupBootcamp Dublin, whose first edition is starting very soon. Eoghan understands early stage and will be a very useful guy to have nearby as you’re developing your concept.

The Evangelist: Josh Holmes

If you’ve ever been to any Startup event in Dublin, you’ve met Josh. He’s the Architect Evangelist in Ireland for Microsoft. Josh has a very wide range of interests, that are not limited to Microsoft products, and he’s passionate by keeping things simple. If you need solutions to a problem, Josh will have something for you.

The Blogger: Liam Boogar

We want international exposure for your products. Liam is founder and blogger at The rude Baguette, an English-speaking blog on startups based in Paris. Liam has been covering European startups extensively for a while and he’ll be able to tell you about what’s happening in your space, as well as how to pitch your product to the press.

SESAME TREE REACHES PRIX JEUNESSE FINALS

2012-02-16T15:28:00.000Z

SESAME TREE REACHES PRIX JEUNESSE FINALS

Sesame Tree, Belfast based Sixteen South’s co-production with Sesame Workshop is a finalist at the prestigious 25th Prix Jeunesse International.

Taking place in June in Munich, the Prix Jeunesse International is a biennial festival which celebrates children’s television from around the world. Sesame Tree is a finalist in the pre-school fiction category.

Sesame Tree is an award winning preschool series which airs on CBeebies. A co-production with the world-famous Sesame Workshop in New York, Sesame Tree teaches mutual respect and appreciation of difference while having lots of fun! More...

Welcome Silicon Repubic Jobs Board

2012-02-16T14:00:00.000Z

They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery and to this we are very pleased to see that Silicon Republic has launched a 'Jobs Board'. This from the Irish tech perspective is a great thing, because is shows that there is a market being created daily and the more jobs there are the quicker Ireland will rise from the ashes of the property collapse.

We are also pleased to announce that we are also about to re-launch our jobs board, focused at Startups in Ireland especially after the success of our 1 million Euro job board in Dec 2011.

Its good to see that the little guy can have good ideas and open it up for the bigger guys. So from us we welcome Silicon Republics Job Board to the Irish tech community!

London Web Summit

2012-02-15T13:47:00.000Z

I have no doubt you guys will have this but just in case here is the news from Paddy, about London Web Summit.

1) 12 more international speakers announced this morning, view the names here.

2) 500 more attendees added this morning, view the updated list here.

3) The last 50 Super Early Bird tickets are on sale today, details here.

4) It's now free to enter the Startup competition, see the details here.

5) Today we're announcing a 2nd stage at the London Web Summit, details here.

London Web Summit - Who's speaking?

2012-02-14T10:18:00.001Z

The London Web summit adds more speakers and companies. See the release below.

Is Cloudflare the fastest growing company in history that you've never head of? Well, we'll find out at the London Web Summit, when Matthew Prince, CEO & co-founder, takes to the stage.

Matthew will be joined by Jason Goldberg, who has grown Fab.com from $0 to a $100 million company in under a year, along with the mercurialMorten Lund.

These three incredible entrepreneurs will be joined by Mark Read, Director of Strategy at WPP; Foursquare's Head of Business Development, Omid Ashtari; and the wonderful Alex Hoye, founder of GoIndustry PLC, and all-round connector of London's startup scene.

We're also launching a search for Europe's next big startup. If you think your that startup or you know that startup, and they'd like an opportunity to pitch from the main stage at the London Web Summit then you'll find all the details here.

Nikesh Arora

Google

Mark Read

WPP

Morten Lund

Everbread

Europe's Next Big Startup?

ENTER THE COMPETITION

We've launched a competition to find Europe's next big startup. If you think you're that startup, and would like an opportunity to pitch on stage in front of dozens of Europe's leading investors and media, then you'll find all the details on our website.

Launching Valentines Day, Couple Fire Makes Long-Distance Relationships Easier

2012-02-14T01:00:00.000Z

Launching Valentines Day, Couple Fire Makes Long-Distance Relationships Easier - Thanks to Startup Weekend
This Valentine’s Day, couples get a website all their own!

This Valentine’s Day, couples get a website all their own! Couple Fire, a brand new start-up is launching Tuesday to add spark to relationships on Valentine’s Day and every day after that.

What is Couple Fire?

A private social network for two, designed just for couples.
Together, couples can create stunning boards, much like virtual bulletin boards where they can post absolutely anything .
Couple can also get inspired by beautiful images, date ideas, conversation starters, trip ideas and quotes, all posted to the Inspiration Center by the Couple Fire community.
Free.

There are sites for dating, sites for the engaged and married and sites for friends, but few sites to genuinely help couples grow their relationship that are private and engaging. Couple Fire will change that: http://bit.ly/CoupleFireVideo.

Read more!

Angel Investment Network is proud to announce a partnership with the Global Entrepreneur Congress

2012-02-13T17:12:00.000Z

Silicon Ireland has long supported the Angel Investment Network. Here it is announcing the GEC conference.

Angel Investment Network is proud to announce a partnership with the Global Entrepreneur Congress which gives members the opportunity to attend this event with a 20% discount. Please go to http://gec2012-esearch.eventbrite.co.uk/?srnk=1&ebtv=C and enter the unique code AIN20 for your discount

The event is being held at ACC Liverpool from 9th to 16th March 2012 and is hosted by Liverpool Vision, Global Entrepreneurship Week and The Kauffman Foundation.

It is a festival for entrepreneurs, a celebration of enterprise, an inspiration for those with the "can-do" spirit to turn dreams into an ambitious reality.

On 13 March at the ACC Liverpool, entrepreneurs and aspiring business leaders will experience an inspiring journey through three sessions of speeches, panel discussions and debates centred on three themes that explore the concept of winning in business.

With a ticket you can expect to:
* Listen to world leaders, economists and other experts about programs, policies and research aimed at advancing entrepreneurship.

* Gain valuable insight and advice from successful and experienced entrepreneurs in various speeches and workshops. Keynote speakers include:

• Sir Richard Branson - Founder of Virgin
• Martha Lane Fox - Founder of lastminute.com
• Sir Terry Leahy - former CEO of Tesco
• Rt Hon the Lord Heseltine - Founder of Haymarket Publishing and former Deputy Prime Minister
• Steve Felice - President, Consumer, Small and Medium Business at Dell Inc.
• Paul Lindley - Founder of Ella¹s Organic Robin Rowland - Founder of Yo Sushi!
• Lara Morgan - Founder of Company Shortcuts
• Doug Richard - Founding Dragons¹ Den Panellist and Founder of School for Startups
• Ashok Rao - Chairman of TiE Global Board of Trustees

* Meet and network with delegates who can help you take the next step in starting and growing your own business.

* Enjoy the many Fringe Events

For tickets go to http://gec2012-esearch.eventbrite.co.uk/?srnk=1&ebtv=C and enter the unique code AIN20 for your 20% discount.

Irish tech In San Francisco June 2012 - visit Vator Splash

2012-02-11T17:04:00.000Z

Vator Splash is the premier venue to learn from leading entrepreneurs, to meet blue-chip venture capitalists and angels, and to launch or showcase your start-up onstage. Splash gathers leading entrepreneurs, innovators and financiers across technology to inspire and energize the audience about entrepreneurship and innovation.

We're now taking applications to be one of the top 10 emerging start-ups to present onstage. Join the competition here.

We're still getting our speaker lineup together. But at the moment, our keynote speakers include top LA-based entrepreneurs: Scott Painter, CEO and founder of TrueCar, which has raised some $250 million in funding and could go IPO this year, Matt Coffin, who founded Lowermybills, which was sold to Experian for $300 million. Listen to these entrepreneurs share their successes and failures on their journey to building their successful businesses.

Our VC speakers and judges include Neal Hansch (Rustic Canyon Partners), Jed Katz (Javelin Venture Partners), Nate Redmond (Rustic Canyon Partners, Paul Bricault (Amplify), Mike Jones (co-founder Science, former CEO of MySpace), Adam Huie (Hatch Labs), Erik Rannala (Mucker Labs), Sam Tellar (Launchpad), Tom McInerney (entrepreneur and angel investor) and Ezra Roizen (Ackrell Capital).

We hope to see you at Splash LA this June.

Remember, get your Early-bird tickets before they sell out, as they always do. The demo tables (at the early-bird rate of $350 - including three admission tickets - are the best deals. But they won't last!!!!).

Vator Splash LA is hosted by award-winning journalist Bambi Francisco, founder and CEO of Vator. Investors from top VC firms, such as Andreessen Horowitz, Anthem Venture Partners, Arizona Bay, August Capital, AngelPad, Alsop Louie, Bessemer, Blue Run Ventrues, Blumberg, Bullpen, Canaan, Claremont, CMEA, Crosslink Capital, Crosscut Ventures, DFJ, FirstMark, First Round, Founders Fund, Granite VC, Greycroft, Greylock, Google Ventures, Hummer Winblad, Industry Ventures, Intel Capital, IVP, Jafco Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed, Madrona Venture Group, Mayfield, Mission Ventures, NEA, North Bridge, Norwest, NYC Seed, OpenView Partners, Polaris, Redpoint Ventures, RRE, Scale, Shasta, SoftTech VC, SV Angels, TechStars, VantagePoint, Venrock, Walden VC, and 500 Startups, and more are attending or have attended the Splash events..

Where: The Highlands Hollywood
When: June 7, 2012
Time: 4 pm to 11 pm

Amazing Support Programme for Tech Sector Start-Ups

2012-02-10T16:20:00.001Z

Amazing Support Programme for Tech Sector Start-Ups

The LINC, Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown and the Synergy Centre, Institute of Technology, Tallaght are pleased to announce the implementation of the Enterprise Platform Programme (EPP) 2012. This exciting new programme aims to help budding entrepreneurs to develop new business concepts that have the potential to develop into strong businesses that provide employment and economic returns in growth areas. This programme is aimed solely at the software, engineering and technology sector.

This programme will be run as a partnership programme between the two Institutes, both of whom have successful track records of providing a business incubation environment that encourages company growth and enhances business skills.

The programme consists of three phases based on a mentor and support structure in order to assist and develop conceptualisation of ideas towards commercialism and business start-up.

For further information, and submission of application form please email newfrontier@itb.ie

The application form and flyer can be downloaded from the link below.

Industry & Innovation itb.ie

For 2012 we have developed an exciting partnership with the Synergy Centre at ITT Dublin, in Tallaght. Together we will provide the Enterprise Platform Programme 2012 - Phase 1 over 6 weeks and the Enterprise Platform Programme

200 women meet on career development in growing technology sector

2012-02-10T15:30:00.001Z

Over 200 young women working in the technology sector in Ireland were inspired to ‘build their personal brand’ to help them to move into more senior managerial positions at the fourth Connecting Women in Technology (CWIT) event, hosted by HP today. CWIT is a collaborative initiative of senior women from HP, Microsoft, Accenture, Google, Facebook, Dell, IBM and Ernst & Young and aims to attract more female talent in to the technology sector

Worldwide data from 2010 on women at ‘manager, legislator and senior official’ level in all industries, indicates that Ireland is 32% lower than the EU average. While this is a problem across all industries, the technology is a significant growth sector in Ireland, and it is essential that women are focused at moving their career forward to senior roles and decision making positions.

Speaking about the event, which was held at NUI Maynooth this morning, Joanne Charles, Product Marketing Manager, HP Ireland said: “The technology industry is male dominated and women are under-represented at all levels in the sector, but especially in decision making positions. Technology plays a key role in the Irish economy and there are an increasing number of opportunities for women. The CWIT group provides a forum and network for women in the sector to provide support and encourage them to go further and to attract more women into the industry. The key theme today is to shine a light on why women should aspire to be in senior positions and how to develop their personal skills or brand to get them to that level.”

Addressing the attendees of the event this morning, keynote speaker Dr. Maureen Gaffney, said: “In all aspects of your life but in particular when it comes to your professional life, it is not how ‘I should be’ but ‘me at my best’. That largely depends on it being capable of arousing basic positive emotions that drives human behaviour so managing negative emotions that can get in the way. This is something that we should work at to help us to progress our professional and personal lives. Facts convince but it is emotions that motivate the action and reaction you desire. However, creating a personal vision sometimes arouses uncomfortable issues for women - for example the disconnect between the internal sense of self confidence they hold and the way the way they express it openly.”

“To be at your best, you need to be attuned to the values that drive you and what strongly motivates you. This personal vision redefines you and what you stand for in an authentic and persuasive way to others around you in your workplace. “

CWIT was established at the end of 2009 when senior women from the member organisations came together as a group because the current economic climate had thrown up a number of challenges that Ireland hadn’t faced before. Amongst those challenges is ensuring that organisations like the founding members – multinationals based in Ireland – have the right environment to grow. CWIT is focused on attracting the right quality of people into these industries to support Ireland’s competitiveness agenda.

Talking about the CWIT Group, Joanne Charles said: “Member organisations of the CWIT group work internally to implement the aims of the Group. At HP for example, we provide mentoring, a programme which allows women to engage with senior management, workshops to assist women returning to work after maternity leave and we are involved with the HP EMEA Women’s Leadership Council.”

News from the Mobile Fringe at MCW 2012

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000Z

Just a quick reminder to let you know that we have a Mobile World Congress expo ticket giveaway competition from our friends at Poynt. The closing date is today at 18:00 GMT. Details of how to enter are here http://mwcfringe.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4486d20419c999901347e5c33&id=8ca0876528&e=2751da1617

More updates coming later about some new sponsors and some new events.

Think outside the Bowl

2012-02-09T11:06:00.002Z

We got this today and thought it might be of interest to Startups in Northern Ireland.

Irish Export Cooperative has done it

2012-02-09T11:05:00.000Z

‘Irish Export Cooperative has done it’

Irish Export Cooperative has done it slashing costs of international deliveries for SME’s. From this week, the Irish Export Cooperative will have achieved discounts for their members on international delivery. These reductions amount to a highly discounted rate. For the first time, small crafts people, food producers and micro enterprises can export at an affordable cost. The implications are profound for small retailers and small medium enterprise (SME) here in Ireland.

What started as a Twitter conversation has grown into a proactive initiative to help and support small, medium and micro sized enterprises to export their goods and enter new foreign markets.

DHL Express has been awarded the contract as the International Express carrier for the Irish Export Cooperative.

As a member of the Irish Exports Co-operative, you will now be able to avail of a special highly discounted group rate with DHL Express. This will enable small crafts people, food producers, micro enterprises and SME’s to both import and export documents and packages to over 220 countries on an Air Express service. Not only will you experience enhanced transit times and significant cost savings, you will now be able to avail of the Express 12 service as standard.

DHL Express (Ireland) Ltd Business Development Manager Paul Toomey said “DHL Express Ireland is delighted to have partnered with the Irish Export Cooperative to support all registered members of the Cooperative. As the leading Express international logistics provider in Ireland, we are committed to helping small and medium enterprises export their goods and this new partnership will provide better value for all registered member of the Cooperative, who send international shipments or documents. Not only that but all registered member of the Co-operative will further benefit by leveraging DHL’s global reach and experience while supporting members as they explore new international trade locations”.

Our model is simple here in the Irish Export Cooperative. By combining our volumes, we have negotiated better terms with couriers. These terms give us a competitive edge in exporting internationally. We reduce costs to increase volumes, create jobs, increase exporting for small business and get some value back into the economy at this important time in Ireland’s history.

But more important than that, is the support of the companies and sole traders, crafts people and small businesses that are engaged by our model and how they can come together to reduce the cost of their deliveries.

Chris Gordon, Founder of the Cooperative said

“This cooperative breaks down the barriers faced by too many SME's on the island of Ireland. We have personally faced these problems and now we have a concrete solution. This opens up new markets for small firms and crafts makers on the island of Ireland. We are using time tested approaches of democratic cooperatives to create a real game changer in exports in Ireland.

By creating a better platform to work together to create this initiative, we have gained the interests and support of Enterprise Ireland, the Small Firms Association, ISME, The Irish Exporters Association and the Cooperative Development Society amongst others."

On our travels nationwide, in the past few weeks listening to stories from small businesses, we have heard many sad tales:

‘A small business owner in Kildare sells specialised motorbike parts to the UK. It is cheaper for him to travel to Newry to post his packages than it is from Newbridge. He makes this 5 hour round trip twice a week. That's 10 hours from his week that still saves him hundreds in delivery fees’.

‘A small food producer from Louth struggled to find a way to export his product. After searching for couriers for pricing, the cost of international delivery outweighed the cost of those products. In addition, these prices are in excess of what customers could be expected to pay.’

‘Chris Gordon, owner of an Irish firm called www.TrophiesAwardsandGifts.com was trying to sell an item to America for €40 that would cost $260 to ship before this deal.’

Irish Export Co-operative are proud to have support from the following partners:

Enterprise Ireland, InterTrade Ireland, County Enterprise Boards, SFA, ISME, Irish Exporters Association, Cooperative Development Society, Bank of Ireland, AIB, Small Business Can, AllAboutBusiness.ie, Chambers Ireland, British Irish Chamber and even more.

Irish Exporters Association Chief Executive, John Whelan said ’The next wave of exporters will come from the early stage small businesses who are now putting their foot into foreign markets for the first time. The Export Coop is great initiative and will act as an outreach support to many small businesses who want to export but don’t know how to go about it. The Irish Exporters Association look forward to offering an on-going professional support to the Export Coop members ’’

Chairman of Love Irish Food, Jim Power, said “It is becoming increasingly apparent that Exports and the SME sector combined, represent a key element of Ireland's future economic success. Building an export market is always going to be a challenge for small companies so anything that alleviates the pressure has got to be welcomed. The ambitions of the Irish Export Co-Op are incredibly positive and this initiative typifies the entrepreneurial spirit that makes the SME sector such an important part of the Irish economy.”

SME Capital Funds David O’Brien said "The Irish Export Cooperative is a positive game changer in the Irish Small Business Environment. It's ability to promote exporting as a viable model for growth to the Irish Small, Medium & Micro Enterprise sector and to tear down the cost barrier of exporting for this sector will revitalise our indigenous SME's and will contribute towards growth and sustainability in our Economy. However the real beauty of this initiative is that it is Irish business helping itself which we at SME Capital Funds believe is the model for sustainability and growth in terms of both growing business opportunities and jobs in the Irish Economy going forward. SME Capital Funds as a professional advisory firm for Irish SME's are delighted to have played it's part in the success of the Irish Export Cooperative and look forward to a sustainable and successful future with the Irish Export Cooperative as its administrative partner."

Angels Den

2012-02-09T09:25:00.003Z

Angels Den has been a hive of activity over the last few months and we have been very busy helping great businesses get funding such as Sapphires Model Management, Blue Cow Yoga, The Truffle Company, JustRefunds, Video Direct, The Great Projects and Front Up Rugby to name a few.

Our unique SpeedFunding™ events are continuing to be a fantastic way to fast track to funding. We are now holding regular events throughout the UK, Singapore, Middle East and Hong Kong which has amounted to over 3000 individual one to one pitches to Angel Investors with an average of over 90% of businesses getting interest from at least one investor.

New to Angels Den...
Following the phenomenal success of the London Angel Clubs and in response to sustained demand from large numbers of Angels, Angels Den is pleased to announce the launch of the new London Tech Club. Aiming to bring together the most innovative technology start-ups with Angels who have the desire to invest, and the experience to add value, if you are interested in getting involved or would like to find out more, please contact the Tech Club Manager Chris Wheatcroft.

Masterclasses for Business Angels...
Continuing on from our very popular programme of Angel Investment Training which we ran last year, we will be running more sessions and Masterclasses in the coming months. Last year’s programme included sessions on Due Diligence, EIS, Tax & Intellectual Property, Valuations and Legal documents, including our free Edwards Wildman Investment Documents Service, as well as a number of Introductory sessions. Our Masterclasses and training sessions are a great opportunity to find out information from the basics of investing to more complex hot topics. Anyone is welcome to attend our sessions whether you are a seasoned Angel or have had no previous experience of investing.

Time poor but keen to invest? Why not consider Armchair Investing with Angels Den...
If you or some of your clients like the idea of being a Business Angel but don’t have large amounts of time to devote, then you might want to consider investing in a selection of Cleantech companies via Ipex. They use their expertise to select and add value to the best businesses in return for a share of each company. Click here for more information.

In other news
As you may have heard we made our Middle East debut in Qatar in October last year and 2012 will see us rolling out the Angels Den service across a number of exciting new countries so watch this space! Please contact me if you would like to discuss our recent international expansion.

Wishing you a happy and successful year ahead...

Do get in touch with your Local Regional Manager to find out more about what’s happening in your area.

More speakers announced for London Web Summit

2012-02-08T09:23:00.000Z

More speakers announced for London Web Summit

Nikesh Arora, Google's Chief Business Officer, has confirmed he'll be joining us in London, along with Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp's CEO. Details on Nikesh and Reshma are here.

The first 100 early bird tickets are on sale from today at 9am - details here.

The list of other speakers announced so far are on our website, while the application form and full details for the start up competition is now available.

We'll be announcing a long list of international speakers over the coming weeks, but we're always open to suggestions so please don't hesitate to drop daire@websummit.net an email.

First 4 speakers announced for London Web Summit

2012-02-07T08:03:00.001Z

London Web Summit announces...
First of many speakers

We've lots of international speakers to announce, so we thought we'd start with four fantastic entrerpreneurs: two from Europe, and two from the US.

We're thrilled to welcome Morten Lund, Ben Milne, Lars Hinrichs and the wonderful Shervin Pishevar.

All 4 have views, opinions & insights that depart from the normal platitudes you tend to get at tech conferences.Full details on our new website.

Silicon Ireland News Wire

Off to the biggest Mobile tech event MWC 2012

TechCrunch at Barcelona – Panels, Startups, Lunch & Networking during MWC

Are you looking to Invest in startups ?

Crowdfunding news

Barcelona -The Fringe - The News

Paypal to grow in the south

Lisburn telecoms solutions firm invests in next generation technology

UII Sneak previw - Dublin Event

Dublin Startup Weekend - The Mentors (Part 2)

Pat Phelan

Martha Rotter

Peter Crowley

Volodymyr Pigrukh

Frederic Herrera

Michael FitzGerald

Joe Drumgoole

Ed Byrne

Mary Cronin

Anatoly Lebedev

The Mentors for Dublin Startup Weekend

The Entrepeneur: Eamon Leonard

The VC: Eoghan Jennings

The Evangelist: Josh Holmes

The Blogger: Liam Boogar

SESAME TREE REACHES PRIX JEUNESSE FINALS

SESAME TREE REACHES PRIX JEUNESSE FINALS

Welcome Silicon Repubic Jobs Board

London Web Summit

London Web Summit - Who's speaking?

Nikesh Arora

Google

Mark Read

WPP

Morten Lund

Everbread

Europe's Next Big Startup?

Launching Valentines Day, Couple Fire Makes Long-Distance Relationships Easier

Angel Investment Network is proud to announce a partnership with the Global Entrepreneur Congress

Irish tech In San Francisco June 2012 - visit Vator Splash

Amazing Support Programme for Tech Sector Start-Ups

Amazing Support Programme for Tech Sector Start-Ups

Industry & Innovation itb.ie

200 women meet on career development in growing technology sector

News from the Mobile Fringe at MCW 2012

Think outside the Bowl

Irish Export Cooperative has done it

Chris Gordon, Founder of the Cooperative said

Angels Den

More speakers announced for London Web Summit

First 4 speakers announced for London Web Summit

London Web Summit announces...First of many speakers

Ben Milne

Dwolla

Lars Hinrichs

HackFwd

Shervin Pishevar

Menlo Ventures

London Web Summit announces...
First of many speakers