Ireland has the opportunity to become a European Agtech hub. Now there’s €40m to start backing the plan. 
A US Agtech venture capital firm, offering investments in innovative early-stage Agtech companies, is to open its first European office in Ireland. The fund is led by Wexford native, Kieran Furlong.  
Finistere Ventures, a Californian VC firm, has partnered with Ireland’s sovereign development fund (ISIF) to launch the €20m Ireland Agtech Fund (IAF).
The Irish Strategic Investment Fund has also allocated a further €20m in Finistere’s second global agtech fund for global agri investment. Kieran Furlong spoke to ThinkBusiness about this exciting development.

What is your background?
I grew up in Co. Wexford – not in a farming household, but in a “country” family. I spent plenty of time on my uncle’s farm and had the usual Wexford childhood memories of picking berries and harvesting potatoes.
After studying chemical engineering at UCD, I joined a multi-national chemical company and set off for Argentina right after graduating.  
I spent about a decade in the chemical industry, although most of that time was dealing with agri-business and large companies like Cargill, and ADM. I was very interested in bio-based and sustainable materials and left the corporate world for post-graduate study and then joined a startup making biofuel from algae. After that, I worked on the first commercial 100% bio-based Coke bottle with a startup in Wisconsin. 
Finistere reached out to me about two years ago to take a look at the application of industrial biotechnology in agriculture, and when the opportunity arose to get involved with Agtech in Ireland, I was very happy to be able to take it.
“Ireland combines an innovative domestic agri-food industry with the European home of Silicon Valley’s tech giants.”
Why Ireland? What has Ireland got to offer the world?
We think Ireland has great potential to be a

K9 Connectables is one of the latest innovations in the valuable pet sector. It’s a toy designed to ‘challenge the dog’s brain’ in order to stop it biting.
Invented and designed by dog lover James McIlvenna, K9 Connectables has been nominated in the consumer product category in the Irish Design Awards. Here, he speaks to ThinkBusiness about the new device.
Where did the idea for the toy come from?
The idea for K9 Connectables came about when my wife and I got our own dog Sandy about four years ago. Everyone is well aware that dogs require food, shelter and most importantly exercise and it’s this last point that is most important if you want to have a well-balanced dog. It’s not just physical exercise a dog requires but mental stimulation as well.
Dogs have a lot of energy and if we don’t channel this energy in a positive way, behaviour problems can arise. Most dog owners have hectic lives so it can be difficult to provide all the necessary requirements their dogs needs. This is where K9 Connectables come in. Being a product designer I noticed a gap in the market for toys that really challenge a dog’s mind.
How does the product work exactly?
The idea is that you stuff the dog’s favourite food and treats inside and connect them together. They can smell the treats through the small holes in the toy but they have to use their brains to work out how to break the connection. This engages the dog, keeps them occupied and rewards them when they manage to get the treats out. You can start out easy with the connection system and then the further you connect the toys the more difficult it gets.
Did you face any difficulties or challenges when you were designing the product?
We created over 100 different prototypes on 3D printers

14-year-old Irish schoolboy, Alex Goodison has developed a news-focused app called Swiipe that has attracted critical acclaim.
With less than a year of iOS app development under his belt, 14-year-old Alex Goodison decided to build a news app. Why? Because he wanted to read more news and the summer holidays were proving to be too long. 
“I wanted to read the news more often myself, but no news app was able to provide an experience worth going back for,” he explains.
Self-taught, Alex used YouTube videos and the learning platform Udemy to get his app development skills up to scratch.
However, one of the main reasons he started building Swiipe was because he was slightly bored during his school summer holidays. 
“I have been learning to develop iOS apps for close to a year now and, as summer holidays in Ireland are 13 weeks long, I had plenty of time on my hands.”  
Alex estimates that he worked on the first version of the app for five hours a day over two or three weeks.  
When Alex launched the app on ProductHunt, he received immediate and positive feedback. To date, nearly 1,000 people (mainly product developers) have given it the thumbs up. 
“I was amazed by the reaction on ProductHunt. I would have been happy with 70 or so votes but to get close to a thousand left me speechless. The encouragement has meant a lot to me. It has given me a lot more self-belief.” 
How does the app work? 
Swiipe works much like Tinder in that users can swipe left (to dismiss an article) and right to save an article. Users simply tap the screen to read an article in full.
“Yes, it is quite like Tinder’s UX,” says Alex. “Swiipe lets you view the articles that you want to see one by one. Simply swipe left to dismiss the article, right

14-year-old Irish schoolboy, Alex Goodison has developed a news-focused app called Swiipe.
With less than a year of iOS app development under his belt, 14-year-old Alex Goodison decided to build a news app. Why? Because he wanted to read more news and the summer holidays were proving to be too long. 
“I wanted to read the news more often myself, but no news app was able to provide an experience worth going back for,” he explains.
Self-taught, Alex used YouTube videos and the learning platform Udemy to get his app development skills up to scratch.
However, one of the main reasons he started building Swiipe was because he was slightly bored during his school summer holidays. 
“I have been learning to develop iOS apps for close to a year now and, as summer holidays in Ireland are 13 weeks long, I had plenty of time on my hands.”  
Alex estimates that he worked on the first version of the app for five hours a day over two or three weeks.  
When Alex launched the app on ProductHunt, he received immediate and positive feedback. To date, nearly 1,000 people (mainly product developers) have given it the thumbs up. 
“I was amazed by the reaction on ProductHunt. I would have been happy with 70 or so votes but to get close to a thousand left me speechless. The encouragement has meant a lot to me. It has given me a lot more self-belief.” 
How does the app work? 
Swiipe works much like Tinder in that users can swipe left (to dismiss an article) and right to save an article. Users simply tap the screen to read an article in full.
“Yes, it is quite like Tinder, so Tinder users may find Swiipe easy to use,” says Alex. “Swiipe lets you view the articles that you want to see one by one. Simply swipe left

If you have a great business idea, write it down. If you want to grow your business, you also need a plan.
If you have a great business idea, the first step is to write it down.
Then you’ll need a Business Model Canvas to flesh out the idea. Download your free canvas now.
Later, you will need a full business plan template. Download a free, easy-to-use, business plan template here.

You need a plan to raise investment
Your business plan should cover objectives, sales, strategies, marketing and financial forecasts, over a short to long-term period.
It is useful to remember that using a business plan can help you to hone your business idea, as well as set goals and track your progress.
Your plan should be time-specific, and you should reference it regularly. Investors, lenders and State bodies want to see convincing details in your plan.

Describe what you intend to do simply and clearly
The problem you are planning to solve for the customer 
How well you articulate the “value proposition”
Identify the market segment you plan to operate in 
How you plan to get your product to market (“the route to market”)
Your business model
You have a good understanding of the competitive landscape
Terms like “value proposition” and “route to market” are explained in more detail in the ThinkBusiness guide to a marketing plan.

What do I put in my business plan?
So what does a business plan look like, and why is it important? Every plan should have a solid structure. There are a number of elements to a business plan that you must cover.

Cover and confidentiality clause

Ensure the cover of your plan carries your branding and maybe even a photograph of your product.
It is always good practice to include a confidentiality clause. You should ask the recipient to sign this, as you need to ensure that sensitive information included in the business plan

Referral.Works helps companies to employ the best candidates for vacant roles through a unique referral process.
The Cork startup was founded in February 2016 by Kieran Desmond, and Kieran took the time out of his schedule to speak with ThinkBusiness about his company.
What was the idea behind the formation of Referral Works?
Referral.Works as a concept came from life experience. I met a friend who told me about troubles in his life. He was financially broke, stuck at home and he needed a job. He had just completed a QFA Masters Qualification. I was referred internally for a job that was not listed, fortunately or unfortunately, I was unable to take the contract as I was working with other clients. This is when I had a lightbulb moment – “Christian! I have just the job for you. Would you like me to refer you?” I went on to play matchmaker between Christian (the jobseeker) and the employer. Christian was then hired and I had agreed a small fee for the referral. It’s through this process of going back and forth, the manual labour that I sought a way of referring people in a similar way.

“If you refer for five jobs over a year, you could earn an average of €3,200 for no more than two and a half hours work.”

 
How does the company operate?
Referral.Works supercharges recruitment by suggesting, matching and assessing referred people to relevant jobs. We do this in a rewarding, transparent and easy process for everyone. A recruiter can publish a job, with a referral rewards pool in minutes and receive quality candidates from around the world. Referrers can login with their LinkedIn profile and refer people they know for jobs in companies they know and trust. Candidates, who are invited to be referred, get a warm introduction to relevant