Startups in Ireland News | October, 2026 (STARTUP EDITION)

TL;DR: Startups in Ireland News, October 2026: Record Company Formation, Startup Ireland and Web Summit

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Startups in Ireland news, October, 2026 brings one clear signal for you: 21,921 new start-ups formed in Ireland in Q1 to Q3 2026, an 8% rise year-on-year. More state support is arriving, and so is more competition for grants, customers and investor attention.

Startup Ireland is live. Enterprise Ireland aims to support 1,000 new startups. It also wants 20% more startups reaching €1 million in turnover. Its first tools are a National Startup Hub and an AI Accelerator for companies whose product is AI.
Funding sets the ceiling. Wayflyer ($1.9B), Tines ($271.2M), ProVerum Medical ($122.2M) and ePower ($48M) top the charts. Most founders raise seed rounds of a few million euro.
Dublin is optional. Payslip (Mayo), ePower (Cork) and fully remote Purple Path show that regional founders now get lower costs and fresh state attention.
Revenue beats lists. Violetta Bonenkamp (Mean CEO) says you should spend no more than one day on each award application. Know your break-even month, and protect your IP before due diligence starts.

Web Summit runs November 9-12, 2026. Book your meetings before you arrive.

If you are weighing an Irish base, read our guide on how to launch a startup in Ireland. Then check our breakdown of Irish regional startup hubs to see where support exists outside Dublin. This week, hold five customer conversations. Then bring that real data to your Local Enterprise Office.

Check out other fresh startup news and trends that you might like:

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Startups in Ireland news for October 2026 comes down to one loud number: 21,921 new start-ups were established in Ireland during the first three quarters of 2026, an 8% increase year-on-year, according to figures shared by IrishCentral. That works out to more than 2,400 new companies every single month in a country of roughly 5.4 million people. I am Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as Mean CEO. I build companies from the Netherlands and run CADChain and Fe/male Switch in parallel. I watch Ireland closely because it competes for the same engineers, the same investors and the same EU grant money my teams chase.

This month’s picture combines three threads. The first is Enterprise Ireland’s new Startup Ireland initiative and its target of 1,000 new startups. The second is a pile of “ones to watch” lists from ThinkBusiness, Failory and the Business Post. The third is the countdown to Web Summit on November 9-12, 2026, where Irish founders always show up in large numbers. Below you will find the news, the numbers, my unfiltered read on what they mean, a step-by-step playbook for building from Ireland, and the mistakes I see founders repeat across Europe.

Here is why this matters even if you never plan to set foot in Dublin. Ireland is an English-speaking EU member with a deep pool of multinational talent, and it is now putting state money and coordination behind early-stage founders. If you are a founder, freelancer or small business owner anywhere in Europe, that changes your competition, your hiring options and possibly your next headquarters.

What are the biggest Startups in Ireland news stories in October 2026?

Let’s break it down. These are the stories that founders, angel investors and business owners in Ireland are talking about this month, ranked by how much they will affect your decisions over the next 12 months.

Company formation is up 8%. 21,921 start-ups were established in the first nine months of 2026, per the IrishCentral report. More founders means more competition for grants, accelerator places and early customers.
Startup Ireland is live. Enterprise Ireland launched a national initiative to support 1,000 new startups and lift the number of startups reaching €1 million in turnover by 20%. It comes with a National Startup Hub and a Startup Ireland AI Accelerator.
The “watch lists” keep growing. ThinkBusiness published a list of more than 100 hot start-ups, Failory lists 99 Ireland startups to watch in 2026, and the Business Post Connected Hot 100 is back with Enterprise Ireland as partner.
Big funding numbers set the ceiling. Failory reports that Wayflyer has attracted $1.9 billion in capital and Tines has raised $271.2 million. Medtech company ProVerum Medical sits at $122.2 million after its Series B.
Web Summit is weeks away. Web Summit runs November 9-12, 2026, and its Irish Startup Network page features founders from Fin, Wayflyer, Flipdish, Protex AI, Provizio and Enzai.
Regional founders are getting louder. Mayo, Cork, Galway and fully remote teams appear across this year’s lists, which tells you Dublin no longer holds a monopoly on Irish startup stories.

How many startups are founded in Ireland in 2026, and what do the stats really say?

The headline figure is 21,921 new start-ups in Q1 to Q3 2026, an 8% rise on the same period last year. That number covers all newly established companies, so it includes consultancies, holding companies, local service businesses and venture-backed tech firms in the same bucket. A plumber incorporating a limited company and an AI founder raising a seed round count exactly the same in this statistic. That is normal in every European country, and it is the reason I never treat raw registration counts as a measure of startup strength.

The number I care about is the one Enterprise Ireland chose as its target: how many startups reach €1 million in turnover. Registration is cheap. Crossing a million in turnover proves that customers pay, repeatedly, and that the founders can sell. The government aiming for a 20% increase in that group tells me Irish policymakers understand the gap between “born” and “built”.

Stats that should wake you up

2,436 new companies per month on average in Ireland during the first nine months of 2026 (21,921 divided by 9).
$1.9 billion in capital for Wayflyer, the e-commerce funding provider, according to Failory.
$271.2 million raised by Tines for its security automation platform.
$122.2 million raised by ProVerum Medical, a Dublin medtech company founded in 2016 by Conor Harkin and Ríona Ní Ghriallais.
$48 million raised by ePower, a Cork electric vehicle charging company founded in 2018 and backed by Impax Asset Management and Dunport Capital.
€12.4 million raised to date by Payslip, the Mayo-based payroll software company founded by Fidelma McGuirk.
€10 million raised by Aerlytix, a Dublin fintech company serving the aircraft leasing industry.
€3.5 million in seed funding for cloud software company Greyscout last year.
1,470 Irish startups tracked in the StartupBlink database, with Staycity, Phorest and Profitero ranked as the top three in Dublin.

Look at the spread between those figures. At one end you have billion-dollar capital stacks, and at the other you have seed rounds of a few million euro. The Irish middle, companies with €1 million to €10 million in turnover, is exactly where Startup Ireland wants to add weight. If you are a founder in that zone, the next 24 months of Irish policy are written with you in mind.

What is Startup Ireland and what does it change for founders?

Startup Ireland is a national initiative led by Enterprise Ireland, the government agency responsible for developing Irish-owned businesses and helping them sell internationally. You can read the full Enterprise Ireland announcement of the Startup Ireland launch for the official details. The initiative brings together government, agencies, investors, universities, industry and the startup community, with the stated aim of creating a founder-first system.

According to Enterprise Ireland, the design came from extensive founder feedback asking for a simpler, more coordinated national support system with clear pathways to funding, mentorship, specialist advice and international opportunities. Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail Alan Dillon TD said the programme “will deliver best-in-class accelerator and training supports, with a strong focus on native AI”, along with “broader regional coverage, and fast-tracked access to funding and international markets.”

The first Startup Ireland initiatives at a glance

National Startup Hub: a central entry point so founders stop bouncing between agencies, offices and websites.
Startup Ireland AI Accelerator: an accelerator focused on native AI companies, meaning startups where AI is the product itself rather than a feature added later.
Target of 1,000 new startups supported through the programme.
Target of 20% more startups reaching €1 million in turnover.
Regional coverage beyond Dublin, Cork and Galway.

Mean CEO take: the hub matters more than the accelerator

Everyone will write about the AI Accelerator because AI headlines get clicks. I think the National Startup Hub is the bigger deal. In the Netherlands I have been through Yes!Delft, Brightlands, TU/e Launch, StartupLeap and several investor readiness programmes, and the hardest part was never the content. The hardest part was figuring out WHICH door to knock on, in which order, with which documents. Every hour a founder spends decoding agency websites is an hour taken away from customers.

This matches one of my operating principles: women do not need more inspiration; they need infrastructure, and honestly, so do most founders. A single, well-run entry point is infrastructure. If Ireland executes it properly, first-time founders, rural founders and founders without a network in Dublin will gain the most.

Which Irish startups should you watch right now?

John Kennedy’s list of Ireland’s hottest start-ups to watch in 2026 on ThinkBusiness is the broadest one this season, and he described it as “a monster to work on, but an absolute privilege too.” Combined with the Failory list of top Ireland startups to watch in 2026 and the Business Post Connected Hot 100 Startups list, you get a solid map of where Irish talent and money are flowing. I grouped the companies by sector so you can spot patterns faster.

AI and data startups

Kreoh (Dublin): founded in 2022 by Garry Tiscovschi, Fareed Idris and David McSharry. It uses reusable AI building blocks, described as “AI lego blocks”, to produce first drafts of reports for human experts while checking data and rejecting errors.
Protex AI: workplace safety software using computer vision; co-founder and CTO Ciarán O’Mara appears on the Web Summit Irish speaker list.
Zerve, Oblivious AI, Mavarick AI, Mirror Security: all featured on the ThinkBusiness list, covering data science tooling, privacy and AI security.
Bounce Insights: a consumer insights company whose co-CEO Rónán Dowling-Cullen spoke at Web Summit about reaching cash flow break-even.

Fintech and B2B software startups

Payslip (Mayo): global payroll software founded by Fidelma McGuirk, with €12.4 million raised to date.
Aerlytix (Dublin): founded in 2020 by Alan Doyle, Eoin Dalton, Leo Perria and Claudio Viotti. It builds fintech software that helps investors, lenders and lessors analyse cash flows across an aircraft’s lifecycle.
Greyscout: cloud software, €3.5 million seed round last year.
Tines: security workflow automation, $271.2 million raised according to Failory.
Nomupay, Strikepay, Payemoji, JustTip: payments and tipping companies from the ThinkBusiness list.

Medtech and health startups

ProVerum Medical (Dublin): its ProVee System treats benign prostatic hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate) through a simple outpatient procedure. Investors include OrbiMed, Lightstone Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, MVM Life Science Partners and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.
CergenX, Neurobell, Cereflo, Coroflo, Symphysis Medical, OcuHealth, DiaBeta Labs: a strong cluster of clinical and diagnostic startups on the ThinkBusiness list.
Hexis and Feeltect: health and performance technology companies worth tracking.

Climate, energy and agritech startups

ePower (Cork): designs and installs EV charging for homes, businesses and public spaces, with a team of 51 to 250 people and $48 million raised.
AquaB Nanobubble Innovations, Climeaction, EcoRoots, MyGug: water, carbon and waste solutions.
Agricom, Cropsafe, Micron Agritech, Farmdrive: agritech, which makes sense in a country where farming remains a large part of the economy.
TechMet: energy minerals and renewable energy, listed in Failory’s top picks.

Sports, community and consumer startups

ClubSpot, ClubZap, Clubber: software for clubs, which fits Ireland’s huge GAA and amateur sports culture.
SocialTies: named among the top 100 start-ups in Ireland by Enterprise Ireland.
Danu Sports, LiveDuel, Precision Sports Technology (Galway): sports performance and fan engagement.
Hiiker, Barespace, Glitch: consumer apps with international reach.

Education and service startups

Breakthrough Maths (Cork): online maths grinds (private tutoring) with up to four classes a week, giving students more consistent tuition than traditional grinds.
Examfly, Grinds 360, Spellings for Me: edtech serving students and exam candidates.
Purple Path: founded in 2024 by Andy Culligan, David Miller, Balazs Kovacs and Markus Reutner. It is a fully remote outsourced marketing team with no home county at all.

You can read more about several of these names in Enterprise Ireland’s coverage of ClubSpot, Kreoh and SocialTies among the top 100 start-ups in Ireland. For a wider database of growing and hiring companies, check the Startups.gallery directory of top startups in Ireland and the StartupBlink ranking of top startups in Ireland.

What do European founders see that Irish headlines miss?

I read Irish startup news as an outsider with skin in the game. My companies compete in deeptech, IP protection for CAD files and game-based startup education, and I have raised money, scaled a team from about 4 to around 25 people during the pandemic and gone through more accelerators than I care to count. Here are six patterns I see in the October 2026 data that rarely make it into the press releases.

1. Lists are marketing, revenue is proof

Ireland now produces several “hot startup” lists every year, each with 99 to more than 100 names. Being listed gives you a press mention, a LinkedIn post and a nice badge for your pitch deck (the presentation you show investors when raising money). It does NOT pay salaries. I have seen founders across Europe spend weeks polishing award applications while their sales pipeline goes cold. Enter the lists, absolutely, and spend no more than a day on each application.

2. The AI Accelerator will attract wrapper startups

Any state-backed AI programme becomes a magnet for thin products built on top of someone else’s model. A “wrapper” startup puts a nice interface on a public large language model and calls it a company. Kreoh is a good counterexample: its building blocks verify data and reject errors, which is a defensible process layer. If you apply to the Startup Ireland AI Accelerator, show what you own: proprietary data, a workflow nobody else has mapped, or domain access that is hard to copy.

3. Regional founders have a real edge now

Payslip grew from Mayo. ePower and Breakthrough Maths come from Cork. Precision Sports Technology is in Galway. Purple Path has no county at all. With Startup Ireland promising broader regional coverage, founders outside Dublin can now benefit from lower costs AND fresh state attention at the same time. If I were starting a B2B software company in Ireland tomorrow, I would seriously consider basing it outside the capital and putting the savings into sales.

4. Medtech and deeptech founders must treat IP as product

ProVerum Medical’s $122.2 million did not come from a slick pitch alone. Investors like OrbiMed fund medical devices when patents, clinical data and regulatory paths line up. In my work at CADChain, I keep repeating the same idea: protection and compliance should be invisible, built into daily tools so engineers do the right thing without studying law. Irish hardware and medtech teams that bake IP hygiene into their design workflow from day one will close due diligence faster.

5. The women founders are there, and the support still lags

Look at the names: Fidelma McGuirk at Payslip, Ríona Ní Ghriallais at ProVerum Medical, Niamh Donnelly at Akara Robotics, Kerri Sheeran at Taly Subscriptions, Emma Meehan at Precision Sports Technology. Irish women are building serious companies. I founded Fe/male Switch because I see diversity as a systems problem, not a motivation problem. Women already have the drive; they lack equal access to networks, capital and safe spaces to practise pitching and negotiation. If Startup Ireland reports the gender split of its 1,000 supported startups, that single metric will tell us more than any campaign slogan.

6. Break-even is the new flex

Bounce Insights’ co-CEO speaking at Web Summit about the cash flow break-even point says a lot about the mood. Founders are being rewarded for control over their numbers, and investors keep asking “how long can you survive without us?” Startup Ireland’s €1 million turnover target follows the same logic. My advice: know your break-even month by heart, and put it on slide two of your deck.

How do you start or move a startup to Ireland? A step-by-step guide

Next steps. Whether you are an Irish first-timer, a freelancer turning a side project into a company, or a European founder considering an Irish base, this is the sequence I would follow. I built it from my own mistakes, the playbooks inside Fe/male Switch and what the Irish data shows this month.

Validate before you register. Run small, cheap tests: a landing page, ten customer calls, a pre-order form. Registering a company is easy; finding someone who pays is the real test. Treat this phase like a strategic game where the goal is collecting information faster than competitors.
Default to no-code until you hit a hard wall. I built the entire Fe/male Switch game and incubator with no-code tools. Use no-code platforms and AI assistants as your first engineering team and only hire developers once the market has answered.
Register with the Companies Registration Office (CRO). The CRO is the Irish state body where limited companies are incorporated. Pick a structure your future investors will accept, usually a private company limited by shares.
Contact your Local Enterprise Office (LEO). LEOs are the local support offices for small businesses in each county and are the usual first stop for early grants, training and mentoring for very small companies.
Check the National Startup Hub under Startup Ireland. Use it to find the right Enterprise Ireland programme, such as pre-accelerators, competitive start funds or High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) support for companies aiming at export sales.
Protect your IP early. File trademarks for your name, document who wrote which code, sign IP assignment agreements with every co-founder and freelancer, and talk to a patent attorney if you build hardware or medtech.
Get visible on a budget. Use Startups.ie, Ireland’s independent resource for starting and growing a business, which has run since 2005 and founded the National Startup Awards more than 10 years ago. Apply to awards and lists, cap the time you spend, and reuse the same answers.
Plan Web Summit with a target list. The Web Summit Irish Startup Network connects Irish founders to the November 9-12, 2026 event. Book meetings before you arrive. Walking the floor hoping to “bump into” Peter Thiel or a Sequoia partner is a strategy for exhaustion.
Prepare for EU expansion from day one. Ireland gives you English, EU market access and familiarity for US investors. Build your contracts, privacy policies and pricing in euro with the wider EU in mind.
Track one number weekly. Pick the metric closest to cash: monthly recurring revenue, paid pilots or gross margin. Startup Ireland itself measures success by turnover, so speak the same language when you apply.

Example: two founders, same idea, different outcomes

Picture Aoife in Sligo and Mark in Dublin, both building scheduling software for sports clubs, a space where ClubSpot and ClubZap already operate. Mark registers a company, hires an agency to build an app for €40,000 and applies to three lists. Aoife builds a no-code prototype in two weeks, signs five clubs on paid pilots at €30 a month, then approaches her LEO and the National Startup Hub with real usage data. Twelve months later, Aoife has customers, a grant and a story investors believe. Mark has a beautiful app and a shrinking bank balance.

What mistakes should founders avoid with Irish startup supports?

I have watched hundreds of founders in incubators across Europe, and the same errors come up again and again. Ireland’s new wave of supports will make some of them more tempting, so read this list twice.

Chasing grants instead of customers. Grant money feels like revenue, and it is not. A company that lives on grants learns to write applications, which is a different skill from selling.
Applying to the AI Accelerator with an AI feature. If your product works fine without the AI, you are a software company with an AI button. Be honest, and apply to the programme that fits.
Ignoring IP until due diligence. Investors will ask who owns your code, designs and brand. Missing assignment agreements with early freelancers can stall a round for months.
Collecting accelerators like badges. I call this “accelerator tourism”. Two good programmes beat six average ones. Gamification without skin in the game is useless, and the same goes for programmes without real outcomes.
Assuming Dublin is mandatory. Payslip in Mayo proves otherwise. Remote teams like Purple Path prove it even more strongly.
Going to Web Summit without meetings booked. Huge events reward preparation. Unprepared founders leave with tote bags and sore feet.
Treating a list mention as validation. Editors pick stories. Customers pick products. Only one of them pays you.
Copying the Wayflyer or Tines path. Billion-dollar capital stacks are outliers. Build a plan that works if you raise one-tenth of what you hope.
Mixing up Ireland and Northern Ireland. Enzai, featured in Web Summit’s Irish network, is based in Belfast, which is in the UK. Grant eligibility, tax and company law differ between the two jurisdictions, so check which one applies to you.

Should non-Irish founders consider Ireland as a base in 2026?

I get this question from founders in my network all the time, especially those weighing Dublin against Amsterdam, Berlin or Lisbon. My honest answer: it depends on your customers and your team, and Ireland has some clear strengths for certain profiles. Here is my quick scorecard.

Where Ireland wins

English-speaking EU access. After Brexit, Ireland is the main English-speaking country inside the EU single market.
US investor familiarity. Many US tech companies run European operations from Ireland, so US investors and acquirers know the setup.
Talent from multinationals. Former employees of large tech and pharma companies often join or found startups, bringing sales and engineering experience.
A coordinated state push. Startup Ireland, the National Startup Hub and the AI Accelerator show a government that wants more founders.
Medtech depth. Companies like ProVerum Medical and the cluster of clinical startups on the ThinkBusiness list point to strong medical device know-how.

Where Ireland hurts

Housing and living costs in Dublin. Hiring in the capital means competing with multinational salaries and very high rents.
Competition for attention. With more than 21,000 new companies in nine months, standing out takes real effort.
Eligibility rules. Many state supports are aimed at companies with real operations, employees and decision-making in Ireland. A letterbox company will not qualify.

My rule of thumb as a parallel entrepreneur: pick a base where your first 100 customers, your first five hires and your most likely investors are reachable within a short flight or a short commute. If that circle includes the UK, the US and the EU at once, Ireland deserves a place on your shortlist.

Frequently asked questions about Startups in Ireland news

How many startups were founded in Ireland in 2026?

According to figures reported by IrishCentral, 21,921 start-ups were established in Ireland during the first three quarters of 2026, an 8% increase on the same period in the previous year. Full-year figures are expected in early 2027.

What is the goal of Startup Ireland?

Startup Ireland, led by Enterprise Ireland, aims to support the creation of 1,000 new startups and increase the number of startups reaching €1 million in turnover by 20%. Its first initiatives are a National Startup Hub and a Startup Ireland AI Accelerator.

Which Irish startups have raised the most money?

Failory reports that Wayflyer has attracted $1.9 billion in capital and Tines has raised $271.2 million. ProVerum Medical has raised $122.2 million and ePower $48 million.

Which sectors lead the Irish startup scene in 2026?

AI, fintech, medtech and climate technology lead most lists, with strong showings from agritech, sports technology and edtech. Failory notes that most of its top companies are based in Dublin, while the Business Post and ThinkBusiness lists feature many regional founders.

Where can Irish founders find free startup advice?

Good starting points are your Local Enterprise Office, Enterprise Ireland and its new National Startup Hub, and Startups.ie, which has offered independent advice since 2005 and runs the National Startup Awards.

When is Web Summit 2026?

Web Summit 2026 takes place on November 9-12, 2026. Irish founders can join through the Web Summit Irish Startup Network, which has featured speakers from Fin, Wayflyer, Flipdish, TransferMate, Provizio and Protex AI.

What should founders do next after October 2026’s Irish startup news?

October 2026 shows an Irish startup scene with more founders, more state coordination and more public attention than ever. The 8% rise in company formation, the 1,000-startup target and the long lists of companies to watch all point the same way. Opportunity is growing, and so is the crowd. The founders who win the next two years will be the ones who turn that attention into paying customers.

Here is my short action list for you this month:

This week: run five customer conversations and write down what people said they would pay for.
This month: contact your LEO or the National Startup Hub with real data, and sign IP assignment agreements with everyone who has touched your product.
Before November 9: book at least ten meetings for Web Summit, and prepare a one-line pitch with your break-even month in it.
Before year end: decide whether the Startup Ireland AI Accelerator fits your company, and apply only if AI is the product itself.

As I always tell the players in Fe/male Switch, “education must be experiential and slightly uncomfortable.” Building a startup works the same way. Read the news, celebrate the lists, then close the browser and go talk to a customer. That is where the real Irish startup story of 2027 will be written.

FAQ on Startups in Ireland in 2026

What corporate tax rate does a startup pay in Ireland in 2026?

Irish trading profits are taxed at 12.5%. The 15% global minimum rate only applies to groups with revenue above €750 million, so early-stage companies are unaffected. Ask your accountant about the R&D tax credit and the KEEP share option scheme for staff. Read the full guide to launching a startup in Ireland.

Is there a funding gap for Irish scale-ups after seed stage?

Yes. Scale Ireland has flagged a possible €1.1 billion equity gap for scale-ups, so Series B rounds often need foreign lead investors. Build relationships with UK, US and EU funds 12 months before you raise, and keep a revenue-funded fallback plan. See the June 2026 Irish startup funding analysis.

Can Irish startups combine Enterprise Ireland funding with EU grants?

Yes. Irish companies can apply to the EIC Accelerator, Horizon Europe and EIT programmes alongside national supports, as long as the same costs are not funded twice. Keep a separate budget for each grant, and ask Enterprise Ireland's Horizon Europe advisers to review your application before you submit. Use the European Startup Playbook for grants and funding.

How should founders align applications with the Startup Ireland Roadmap?

Mirror the roadmap's stated priorities: native AI, emerging technologies, specialist sectors, regional growth and international sales. Show a credible route to €1 million in turnover, quantify the jobs you will create outside Dublin and name your target export markets. Evaluators score applications against their own targets. Read the Startup Ireland launch announcement.

How can non-EU founders get permission to start a company in Ireland?

The Start-up Entrepreneur Programme (STEP) grants residency to non-EU founders who have a high-potential startup and at least €50,000 in funding. To hire non-EU engineers, the Critical Skills Employment Permit is the standard route. Start the paperwork early, because processing can take several months.

Which Cork startups offer useful lessons beyond the usual headline names?

Cork's quieter success stories include Workvivo, which Zoom acquired in 2023, secure payments platform Trustap, software staffing firm Zartis, marine data company Green Rebel and lifestyle brand Gym+Coffee. Study how each one picked a narrow niche and started exporting early. Explore the best startups in Cork.

What supports exist specifically for female founders in Ireland?

Enterprise Ireland has run Competitive Start Fund calls reserved for female entrepreneurs. The Going for Growth programme offers peer mentoring for women scaling their businesses. Combine these with founder communities where you can practise pitching before real investor meetings. Follow female founder and FemTech startup news.

How can Irish founders get covered by tech media without a PR agency?

Pitch Silicon Republic and other European outlets with a hard number, such as a funding round, a customer milestone or a hiring plan. Send short emails to the right reporter and offer exclusives sparingly. Attach founder photos and one clear data chart. Find the best startup media outlets in Europe.

Which investors can Irish founders meet through Web Summit?

Past Web Summit attendees include Reshma Sohoni of Seedcamp, Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Satish Dharmaraj of Redpoint. Research each fund's portfolio and preferred stage before asking for a meeting. Irish startups can also apply for exhibition and speaking slots. Apply through the Web Summit Irish Startup Network.

Where can I find Irish startups that are hiring or looking for partners?

Curated databases list growing Irish companies backed by investors such as Y Combinator, Sequoia and Accel. This helps job seekers, freelancers and suppliers find companies that are actively buying. Filter by sector, then approach founders with a specific offer rather than a generic CV. Browse top startups in Ireland that are hiring.

Violetta Bonenkamp

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as Mean CEO, is a female entrepreneur and an experienced startup founder, bootstrapping her startups. She has an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 10 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely. Constantly learning new things, like AI, SEO, zero code, code, etc. and scaling her businesses through smart systems.