Seven early stage Irish firms will take their places in startlab NYC, a free incubation space powered by Bank of Ireland.
BriteBiz, Glofox, LogoGrab, KONG Digital, Deposify, Pulsate and Axonista will set up shop in the free co-working space in New York for a 12 month period.
All the firms selected are in a position to enter the US market and significantly grow their businesses.
In addition to the free office and meeting space in central New York, the firms will receive mentoring from Bank of Ireland’s innovation and corporate banking teams in both Ireland and the US to “help them develop, grow and scale their business”.
“[This is] the perfect landing pad for the US right in the heart of its most vibrant city. We can just focus on building our US presence,” says Conor McLoughlin, CEO, GloFox.
“Glofox has seen rapid growth in the US over the past 12 months, accounting for over 50% of all new clients. The US accounts for 50% of the global software market, 40% of the global fitness market and given that it is a higher converting lower cost acquisition channel than any other territory it represents our primary market.”
High potential startups
The seven firms selected are high potential startups, and all have secured valuable deals to place them in prime position to grow in the enormous US market.
• Axonista received a €1.7m grant from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Innovation in SMEs programme.
• Deposify already secured a banking partnership with People’s United Bank and raised €1.1m in funding.
• GloFox raised €2 million in a funding round with investors that included Enterprise Ireland.
• Pulsate recently landed $1.5 million in funding, with PayPal backing the round.
• BriteBiz is currently based in the Bank of Ireland startlab in Galway and has a pipeline of clients in the USA and is looking
