A total of 36 Irish start-ups have been selected to showcase themselves at the 2024 Web Summit in Lisbon next month.

As part of the Irish Startup Network Initiative, each of the companies will receive a complimentary start-up package to exhibit at Web Summit Lisbon, including space on the event floor and dedicated pre-event support to get the most out of the experience.

More than 70,000 people, 3,000 start-ups and 500 investors from around the world will attend the Web Summit, taking place from 11-14 November, and the start-ups will be hoping to secure contracts, investment or business partnerships.

Data published this week shows that over the past three years, startups exhibiting at Web Summit raised on average €1.9m more in funding than equivalent startups which didn’t attend.

Last year, 24 Irish start-ups exhibited at Web Summit. Since then, three have raised funding, and others have signed commercial partnerships or sales deals.

The Irish businesses selected this year span industries such as medicine management, femtech and software development, and one of the companies is using algae to fight climate change.

Web Summit is expected to be the biggest single gathering of Irish start-ups in the world this year.

"Web Summit has the world’s best tech networks, but we’re also an Irish start-up ourselves,” said Rich Forde, VP of start-ups at Web Summit.

“We’ve experienced the challenges of growing and scaling an Irish business to global success: so it’s really important for us all here that we use our experience, our networks and our insights to help support future generations of Irish founders too."

The 36 start-ups are: The Source.AI, Imvizar, Reso Health Ltd, CogniStream AI, Prepsheets, Pillaxia, PollClear.org, The Learning Resevoir, VoxMail, Field of Vision, Skippio, Devally, Vially, Dara&Co, Enso, Infinite Loop, Fettle, Marc, Dream Dev, Micron Agri Tech, Anaula, Cozmotec, MAIS, Jarvio, Scopey, Happy Stack, Glitchads, SimpleStudy, NSYM.AI, Staq A, Clinks, Recursion, Peri, Konvi, and Sapheria.

Read more about some of the Irish start-ups being showcase at Web Summit below:

• Pillaxia, a Co Louth firm which aims to help patients manage their medication, while also including pharmacies in that process. Pillaxia was founded by Drogheda native Stephanie Esambe, who developed the idea after struggling to manage both her medication and that of her sister, who has the neurological condition hydrocephalus.
• The Learning Reservoir, a firm founded by Galway native Dr Fiona Masterson to help people working in manufacturing gain the new skills and certifications required for their profession. Fiona started the firm after 20 years in manufacturing, where she saw the requirement for tailored eLearning content for industry.
• VoxMail, a solution which allows customers to leave a voice message for a firm where they are experiencing service issues: the voicemail is then transcribed by AI and sent to the relevant department to be actioned. Founder Caolan Melvin started the business after spending a day in frustration trying to register a problem but unable to get past chatbots and hold calls.
• Anaula, which uses algae to help tackle climate change. The firm was founded by mechatronic engineer Ruiairí McLoughlin after he learned that algae captures 51% of the world’s naturally-occurring CO2 and wondered why we weren’t using it in the bid to address the climate crisis.
• Husband-and-wife team Tara and Brian Beattie, who devised their Prepsheets application as a way of helping them manage costs and inventory in their own catering businesses before realising it would be of use to chefs, kitchens, restaurants and hospitality businesses around the world.
• Imvizar, which helps people create Augmented Reality stories and has already worked with major firms such as Salesforce and Grant Thornton: co-founder Adele Keane had previously worked for Dreamworks.
• CogniStreamAI, founded by husband-and-wife team Ciran and Alex Harris, which which aims to revolutionise market research using AI interviews which can carry out and evaluate interviews just like a human... but can perform hundreds a day, delivering extraordinary business insights.

Photo: Representatives from the 36 Irish start-ups exhibiting at Web Summit 2024. (Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile)