Tines has become the latest Irish tech start-up to attain 'unicorn' status after raising $125m in a Series C funding round announced on Tuesday.

The Boston and Dublin-headquartered software automation company is now valued at $1.125bn, making it the 11th Irish-founded or Irish-incorporated unicorn, ie a privately-owned start-up valued at more than $1bn.

In addition to a number of unicorns founded and incorporated in Ireland, the list also includes start-ups with Irish founders that are predominantly based in Silicon Valley as well as BrowserStack, the Indian start-up that has its headquarters in Ireland.

Stripe

Founded in 2010 by Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison, San Francisco-incorporated payments company Stripe became the first Irish-adjacent unicorn in 2014 after raising $80m in a Series C round led by Peter Thiel's Founder Funds that valued the firm at $1.75bn.

Stripe has gone on to staggering success, and was valued at $95bn after raising another $600m in 2021 before contracting post-Covid, shelling 1,100 of jobs and cutting its internal valuation to $50bn.

The company processed $1tn of payments in 2023, equivalent to 1% of global GDP, and is now reportedly valued at $85bn as it negotiates with staff members to repurchase $1bn in shares, dulling the prospect of an imminent IPO.

Stripe announced 300 lay-offs last month, equivalent to 3.5% of its global workforce, although it plans to grow its headcount from 8,500 to 10,000 by the end of the year. It has some 600 staff in Ireland. The firm made its biggest acquisition to date last year when it acquired crypto fintech platform Bridge for $1.1bn.

Intercom

Intercom became a unicorn in 2018, seven years after being established by Des Traynor, Ciaran Lee, Dave Barrett and Eoghan McCabe in a Dublin coffee shop, when it was valued at $1.28bn following a $125m funding round.

The San Francisco-headquartered customer service software business' Dublin-registered operating company reported revenues of $246.8m in 2022-2023, up from $200.5m in 2022

Accounts for Intercom R&D Unlimited Company show revenue per account increased 31% and customer numbers declined 6% year-on-year, while losses tripled from $20.8m to $62.8m as staff numbers rose to 548 and R&D costs jumped to $77.4m.

Speaking to The Currency in late 2023, CEO McCabe said the company was cash flow positive and had $129m in the bank. Intercom now has more than 25,000 clients, including Aer Lingus, Amazon, Microsoft and Shopify.

As part of a $94m investment to launch its artificial intelligence technology, Fin X, Intercom announced last year that it would add more than 70 staff in machine learning and R&D and nearly triple its marketing spend to $37m.

Workhuman

Formerly known as Globoforce, Workhuman was founded by Eric Mosley and Eddie Reynolds in 1999 and attained unicorn status in 2020 after Intermediate Capital Group acquired a 10% stake in the company for $120m, valuing the company at $1.2bn.

The software company is headquartered in Dublin and Massachusetts and its HR platform is used by clients, including LinkedIn, Cisco and Merck, in 180 countries with a combined 7m employees.In 2023, Workhuman achieved turnover of $1.15bn and saw pre-tax profits increase 21.7% from $71.6m to $87.2m.

Workhuman employs more than 600 people in Ireland, having added 150 jobs over the past 12 months, and this week opened a new innovation hub on Dame Street in Dublin, adding to its headquarters in Park West.

Fenergo

Fenergo became Ireland's third unicorn in April 2021 after selling a majority stake for $600m that valued the fintech company at over $1.1bn, and it was acquired by private equity firms Astorg and Bridgepoint soon after.

The company develops regulatory compliance and client data management software for financial institutions, including Aviva, Bank of China, Danske Bank, Credit Suisse and UBS among its clients.

Founded by Marc Murphy, the former Technology Ireland Company of the Year acquired Dutch anti-money laundering tech firm Sentinels in April 2022.

Accounts for the financial year ending last March show Fenergo made a pre-tax profit of €12.4m compared to a loss of €5.7m the previous year after cutting costs by 39%. Revenue crept up 0.7% from €137.9m to €139m.

Around300 of the largest banks and insurers in the world are among Fenergo's clients, including ABN Amro, Aviva, Bank of China, Danske Bank, Credit Suisse, UBS, Santander and State Street. The firm employs around 750 people, with 450 in Ireland.

LetsGetChecked

Home testing start-up LetsGetChecked achieved unicorn status in June 2021 after a $150m Series D funding round that valued the firm at more than $1bn.

The Peter Foley-founded firm, whose backers include Rory McIlroy, provides home testing for sexual health, cholesterol, general health, and Covid-19, and has offices in Dublin and the US.

LetsGetChecked merged with the US online pharmacy company Truepill in a $525m deal last summer and subsequently raised a further $165m in a Series 5 round, bringing the total capital raised by the company to $565m.

Following a number of acquisitions and lay-offs coming out of Covid in 2022, LetsGetChecked now employs more than 700 people.

The latest available accounts for LetsGetChecked operating company Paulus Holdings show revenues grew nearly 56% year-on-year from $123.7m to $192.8m in 2022 while annual losses widened slightly to $108.3m.

BrowserStack

BrowserStack closed a Series B funding round valuing the company at $4bn in June 2021 and announced plans to double its headcount in Ireland from 30 to 60.

The company was founded in 2011 by Ritesh Arora, and established its international headquarters in Dublin in 2017. The company's platform helps users to build software and is used by developers for more than half of Fortune 500 companies.

BrowserStack's main Indian arm is a subsidiary of BrowserStack Ltd, which is incorporated in Ireland, although the company has reportedly started the process of repatriating the holding company to India.

The start-up grew revenue from $133.3m to $168.3m in 2023 while operating profit increased from $5.6m to $66.8m, reducing its deficit to $148.5m. BrowserStack has over 1,000 employees and acquired Berlin-based enterprise tech firm Bird Eats Bug for $20m.

Flipdish

Flipdish was valued at $1.25bn after announcing investment funding of $100m from Chinese tech giant Tencent in January 2022, which the company invested in global expansion, R&D, and new hires.

Founded by brothers Conor McCarthy and James McCarthy in 2015, Flipdish provides technology to help food and hospitality businesses handle online ordering for collection and delivery, QR code ordering and pay-at-table as well as self-service kiosks, customer loyalty and digital marketing.

Losses at Flipdish Ltd fell 58.5% to €11.1m in the 12 months to the end of January 2024 as the company cut sales costs (€7.4m to €5.6m) and administration expenses (€39.1m to €25.8m), with the net loss of 97 jobs. Revenues ticked up from €18.2m to €18.7m, and shareholder funds totalled €55.6m.

Wayflyer

Wayflyer attained unicorn status in February when it was valued at $1.6bn after raising $150m in Series B funding from DST Global and QED Ventures.

It has since gone on to raise more than $550m in debt financing from JP Morgan and Credit Suisse, and a further $1bn in capital from US investment manager Neuberger Berman.

The e-commerce financier, founded in 2019 by Jack Pierse and Aidan Corbett, lends working capital to online vendors to help them stock up on inventory and invest in advertising, which is then repaid as a percentage of the merchant's daily sales revenue.

Wayflyer employs around 455 people between its offices in Ireland, the UK, the US and Australia, and moved into financing influencers with the 2022 acquisition of Peblo. Pierse left Wayflyer in 2023.

Accounts for 2023 show revenue jumped from €36.3m to €62.6m while operating losses dropped from €76.9m to €40.9m as the company cut costs from €82m to €68.5m, with staff numbers declining from 371 to 258.

Wayflyer was named Ireland's fastest-growing tech company at the Deloitte Technolgy Fast 50 Awards in November, and the firm now operates in 11 countries, with offices in Dublin, London, New York and Sydney

TransferMate

Kilkenny-founded TransferMate joined the unicorn club in May 2022 after a $70m funding round, with CEO Sinead Fitzmaurice becoming the first woman to lead an Irish unicorn.

The B2B payments technology firm was established by Terry Clune in 2010 and now operates globally, allowing companies to make cross-border payments in 201 countries and 141 currencies.

TransferMate said the $70m would be used to expand its teams globally and further invest in its technology innovation and product suite. The company has raised total funding of $130m to date.

The latest available accounts for TransferMate Ltd show losses widened from €11m to €17.6m in 2022 and group income rose from €19m to €28.1m. Employee numbers rose year-on-year from 339 to 442.

TechMet

Dublin-headquartered mineral investment firm TechMet said it was on track to exceed a billion-dollar valuation in August 2023 when it closed a $200m round to fund its projects in Europe, Africa, North America and South America. The company subsequently raised $300m, including from the Qatar Investment Authority, last year.

Founded in 2017, TechMet's businesses revolve around critical minerals and include mining, processing and recycling as well as battery component manufacturing. The company says its projects are geared towards the production of clean energy technologies.

Led by founder Brian Menell, TechMet has invested more than $450m to date in mineral and related projects worldwide. Its investors include the US International Development Finance Corporation, and former US President Joe Biden referenced its project in Brazil to mine nickel and cobalt for electric vehicle batteries in 2023

The latest accounts for TechMet Ltd show turnover tripled to $298.2m in 2023 while operating profit surged from $88.7m to $312.8m, which in turn increased the company's net assets to $897.6m.

Tines

Tines raised $125m in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs, with new investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Activant and existing investors Accel, Felicis, CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, and Addition also participating.

The Series C round followed on from a $50m Series B extension last May and brings the total capital raised by Tines to $272m while valuing the company at $1.125bn, minting Ireland's newest unicorn.

Founded by Eoin Hinchy and Thomas Kinsella in 2018, Tines software enables clients including Coinbase, Databricks, GitLab, and Mars to automate mission-critical and sophisticated workflows such as security and IT operations to enhance productivity, streamline operations and mitigate risk.

The number of automated actions within the Tines platform has more than tripled over the past year, exceeding one billion tasks automated every week. 

Turnover doubled in the 12 months to January 2024 from €7.1m to €15.5m but losses increased from €30.5m to €33.6m, and accumulated losses now stand at €76.3m. Equity in the company halved from €56.4m to €26.7m as a result.

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