Smarter Surfaces has attracted further investment from AIB Seed Capital Fund and Dublin BIC, with the promise of adding 29 new jobs by June 2017, raising employment in the firm to 44 people.

Smarter Surfaces has three product ranges, which can turn any flat surface into a reusable whiteboard, magnetic wallpaper or a projector screen, as well as combinations of these such as any wall that would have both magnetic and whiteboard functionality. The company was founded in 2012 as ‘Smart Wall Paint’.

The jobs created will focus primarily on international sales, channel management and e-commerce, with the most immediate hires in channel management. The company says that it has recently signed a number of new distribution deals worth approximately €6m over the next two years.

This will see Smarter Surfaces expand its international reach to more than 30 countries including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Australia, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. The company also has a strong presence in Ireland, with the likes of Dublin Web Summit, Google, LinkedIn and SAP using its products.

Smarter Surface director Denise Doran said: “We owe a great deal of this success to the AIB Seed Capital Fund and Dublin BIC, who have been working with us since 2013.

In Association with

Denise Doran and Ronan Clarke, Directors at Smarter Surfaces, with Richard Watson (right), AIB Seed Capital Fund Investment Manager at Dublin BIC

Richard Watson, AIB Seed Capital Fund investment manager at Dublin BIC, said: “Our goal is to develop strong partnerships with the companies we invest in. We are very active at board level and work closely with management teams in a wide range of strategic, operational and financial aspects of scaling and growth.”

Doran believes that entering competitions can only be a good thing for businesses. “People like to do business with winners,” she says. Smarter Surfaces landed the startup award in the 2014 Ulster Bank Business Achievers programme.

Headquartered in Dublin, Smarter Surfaces started trading in August 2012, initially selling paint that could be applied to a flat surface to make a whiteboard. Since then, the company extended the idea by introducing a magnetic surface primer and projector surface paints, which do exactly what they say on the tin.

Enterprise Ireland invested €200,000 into the company in 2013 and the company finished that year with a deficit of €130,000.

Doran says that winning awards has been a key part of Smarter Surfaces’ marketing strategy. Aside from the Ulster Bank title, the firm has picked up several other prizes for its efforts. “Awards like the Ulster Bank title give us credibility. We’re a global business, 95% export-led, and being able to say that you are an award-winning company is huge.”

Denise Doran maintains that the winner doesn’t take it all in SME competitions – losers too have something to gain. “Entering competitions already shows strong market confidence insofar as you think you’re fit to even enter the competition,” she says.

Entries for the 2015 Ulster Bank Achievers Awards are open until September 25 at www.businessachieversaward.com. The overall winner will receive a prize package that includes a €50,000 publishing bursary with the Irish Independent, business mentoring from Enterprise Ireland and a full-service communications workshop.