The Ryan Academy at DCU kicks off a week-long series featuring cross-border mentoring at Citywest Business Campus today. The purpose of the event is to connect European startups with international industry leaders.
Intel, Tripadvisor, Datalex, Mastercard, Cartrawler and Hostelworld are some of the companies providing strategic development advice to 16 startups, a cohort that includes four Irish companies from the travel and hardware tech sector.
Twelve startups from Berlin, Madrid and Milan will join their Irish counterparts to avail of individual and collective mentoring in the areas of strategy and development, business plans, financing and investment, product design, manufacturing and marketing.
The week-long event forms part of the Welcome Project, funded by the EU Commission through the Startup Europe initiative.
Eoghan Stack of the Ryan Academy said: “Cross Border Mentorship week is about bringing entrepreneur and startup ecosystems together, and this week in Dublin we will have the best early startups from Europe and Ireland collaborating and availing of advice and experience from world class industry leaders.
In Association with
Shared Knowledge
“The DCU Ryan Academy is proud to be at the forefront of connecting industry and start-ups and of facilitating an environment of shared knowledge, expertise and support. We are also particularly pleased to have significant input from world-leading companies who are investing their time, energy and resources into cross-border mentorship.”
This year’s Irish representatives include SimpliFly, a global airport shopping smartphone app and delivery service; Dynamic Res, a platform to make travel agents more efficient; VisitorM works with airports to improve passenger experience and partner performance to increase revenue. The fourth startup is Exerwise, an activity tracker for children, helping them to discover a new fun approach to physical activity.
The Milan-based startups include Waynaut, a travel platform; BidToTrip, an app for luxury hotel rooms, allowing customers to find top quality rooms at an affordable price; Noon provides a platform to manage and control hybrid mobile devices, while 4storm aims at evolving the field of action-cam and lifestyle hi-tech products to bring usability and flexibility.
Perfect Brew
The Berlin-based quartet are TourSnapp, bringing smart-city to the cultural sphere; a travel search engine which builds and compares unique travel packages; Miito which provide tea drinkers with the perfect brew solution, and VaiKai which brings toys alive by creating a multi-sensory experience for children.
The remaining European startups are from Madrid and include LandMeFar, a travel outlet for people aged 18-30; DaniRebollo which harnesses the power of embedded GPU; Imprimaker, an online 3D design and manufacturing service and OrionSky, which monitors the status of your pet from your smartphone.
