UStart and Propeller Showcase Event
DCU Ryan Academy Leading supporter of Entrepreneurs in Ireland.
The Lucey Fund headed out to the Ryan Academy in Citywest to attend the UStart & Propeller Showcase. As we entered we were kindly greeted by the Ryan Academy staff, receiving nametag and tea and coffee.
The event was split into two sections.
- Propeller
Propeller Venture Accelerator funded by a group of private investors and established in 2010. This aims to accelerate early stage technology start-up companies in Ireland. There were 5 companies competing in this section to win Propeller Company of the Year.
2. UStart
A DCU student entrepreneur startup competition open to all both profit& non profit ventures from DCU students. UStart had 8 companies competed for Most Innovative Company of the year and UStart Company of the year.
- Doodledale
- Pulser
- Appointz
- Food+
- FitMyBits
- Students for Research
- DaysE
- Photocad
- TouchTech
The event began with the CEO Eoghan Stack introducing the showcase with some Propeller stats documenting the success of the program, with over €9.5 million raised and 100+ jobs created.
Starting with the Propeller companies. An exciting pitch made by Ryan Scott & Roman Grogan from Drop chef. The pair grabbed the audience’s attention by talking about the fact that staying healthy is difficult when working a 9–5 job. They offered a solution Nutritionally balanced meals containing 500–800 calories, Pre-portioned ingredients to save you time and reduce waste with easy to follow step-by-step recipe. The idea was practical and intriguing to many in the room.
Another company that was extremely impressive was Rendicity by Dr Theo Lynn a Professor at DCU. Rendicity designs and develops software solutions that allow users to schedule and render their jobs in the cloud on-demand. Their services offer to 3D rendering of animation studios, architectural practices and engineers. The pitch was clear and concise. Dr Lynn depicted how big of a gap in the market there is for his product and how successful it may be.
Sam Pearson kick start the UStart Companies with Doodledale. Doodledale is an interactive children’s storybook app, that lets children draw the characters and events in the story. Lets children become part of the storytelling experience. Doodledale looks at how things are drawn, then changes the stories to reflect these drawings. I believe this idea could revolutionize the way children’s storybooks are told, developing children’s imagination and vocabulary.
One of the most interesting and my favourite from the event was PhotoCad. Liam Sexton talked about his app that allowed you to take a photo of an object and instantly render a file detailing the measurements of the object. Photocad is eliminating the use of old traditional measuring tools. The app cuts time and complexity of previous methods. This young entrepreneur has a great idea will can change the industry completely.
Last but not least Shekinah Adewumi at Touch Tech left me feeling as if this startup was already a successful company. Touchtech payments is a mobile wallet, eliminating multiple cards in your wallet and the annoyance of the “verified by visa”. The simple touch finger print or 4 digit code will allow you to pay for products or services immediately without entering every detail on your card. Shekinah’s pitch was entertaining and very professional.
When all the Propeller and UStart companies were finished giving their pitch the judges left to go deliberate. While we waited for the results Niamh Bushnell Dublin’s Startup commissioner spoke to us, giving great advice about Startups.
The Propeller Company of the year winner 2015 was Rendicty.
The UStart Company of the year went to PhotoCad. A brilliant idea with plenty of potential in this young Start ups.
Lucey Fund team really enjoyed this event and thank you to the organisers and all the participant sfor making the morning so interesting and informative. DCU Ryan Academy organised a lovely lunch afterwards, was very nice to be so involved!
