Ten companies from sectors including SaaS, MedTech and FinTech have been selected by Huawei and Dogpatch Labs to participate in a three-week scale-up bootcamp designed to help them grow internationally.

The programme, which will be run by Dogpatch Labs, is the result of a partnership between the Chinese telecoms giant and the start-up and innovation hub, which houses over 120 start-ups at the CHQ Buillding.

The companies involved are Empeal, Tracworx, Little Red Edu, Helgen, Graphite Note LTD, Halosos, Energy Elephant, Xpanse AI, Sensipass, and Defactor.

Participating start-ups will have access to leading figures from within Huawei's Asian and European network; market access to 170 countries through Huawei's digital network; tech support from Huawei Ireland and West Europe in the form of cloud credits and Huawei R&D; and funding through Huawei's venture arm, Hubble.

“Huawei is committed to supporting Ireland’s fast-developing start-up ecosystem, which is critically important to long-term national economic development and innovation," said Tony Yangxu, CEO of Huawei Ireland.

In Association with

"This partnership with Dogpatch Labs is focused on helping these participating companies to scale up and achieve their ambitions through an impactful scale-up acceleration programme.

“Globally, through Huawei Cloud infrastructure, we are helping start-ups to grow, develop new products, and expand into new markets and we will bring this global expertise to Irish start-ups.

"We will enable Irish start-ups to scale by giving them access to cloud-native, AI, big data, and other technologies. In addition, we will give start-ups taking part in the programme the opportunity to meet experts and investors from across the business in Huawei.”

The programme will commence at the end of the month and will run for three weeks, with one intensive day of workshops each week, and it will be held between Galway (Portershed) and Dublin (Dogpatch Labs).

Dogpatch Labs will provide the start-ups with entrepreneurial mentorship, workshops on international sales and funding, and industry networking opportunities. 

The programme will culminate in a final Showcase Day in Dublin, where the 10 start-ups will showcase their businesses to key stakeholders and influencers including senior leadership from Huawei, taking place from 12-2pm on Friday, 11 November.

Dave Power, director of innovation at Dogpatch Labs, added: “Dogpatch Labs has demonstrated, over the last few years, how a vibrant tech community can powerfully accelerate the growth of start-ups. 

"The quality of ideas for this programme, from regions all over Ireland, has been outstanding, and I'm looking forward to collaborating closely with Huawei to bring real value to these 10 start-ups.

“Ireland should be a launching point for start-ups with global expansion being the ultimate goal. This programme can give access to critical markets both west and east for founders to scale to new heights.”

Launching the programme, Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital, and Company Regulation Dara Calleary said: “We all know the importance of our multinational sector, but start-ups are the dynamos of our economy and are also pivotal to job creation.  

"The entrepreneurial spirit is ingrained in the DNA of Irish business and so it is imperative we continue to support startups by providing every support possible.

"And so, I welcome this latest programme from Dogpatch Labs and Huawei, which will give the companies taking part access to mentorship, insight, and guidance to scale their business effectively. I wish them every success on the programme.”