10 New Indigenous Companies Launched at MTU’s Rubicon Centre

Ten new companies were launched last week at Munster Technological University’s business incubation hub, The Rubicon Centre, through Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers programme for early-stage entrepreneurs.

Over the past six months, the ten company founders have participated in the New Frontiers Programme at the Rubicon Centre, each receiving an entrepreneurial support package worth €30,000 which includes a €15,000 cash stipend, free office space in the Rubicon incubation centre, mentoring from experienced business advisers and practitioners, introductions to seed and early-stage capital investment networks, access to MTU’s research centres, and training in all areas of business including financial management, market research & validation, business modelling, patenting, product development, marketing and sales.

News Frontiers Programme at Rubicon Centre

Ireland is currently enjoying a boom in new businesses and, with the numbers of Irish start-ups surging to record levels in 2021, the horizon is looking very bright for these ten companies whose innovative business ideas include digital health innovations, web-based solutions for sustainability and retailing, film and animation for streaming channels, document tagging for professional services, EV charger solutions and ethically branded handbags. In a major bounce-back from the COVID pandemic, the number of start-ups in Ireland in 2021 saw an increase of 13% on the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, and an increase of 17% compared to 2020 figures, while the number of companies going under in 2021 fell by 6%.

Martin Corkery, Regional Director at Enterprise Ireland Cork, said:

“I strongly congratulate these new founders on completing New Frontiers with MTU Cork. New Frontiers is our flagship national entrepreneur development programme and has been the start of the journey for many of our successful high potential start-ups. With our colleagues in the Local Enterprise Offices, we look forward to helping these early-stage start-ups to move through their next stages of development and help them to flourish into exciting prospects for future growth and job creation.”

Michael Loftus Vice President for External Affairs at MTU said:

“We are delighted to see these ten new ventures emerge from the New Frontiers Programme at the Rubicon Centre, following in the footsteps of over five hundred entrepreneurs who have used MTU to launch their successful businesses over the past decade. While these are challenging times for all entrepreneurs to work through with Brexit, COVID19 and the war in Ukraine influencing international markets, I am confident that the talent and resilience of these entrepreneurs will ensure that they succeed, regardless.”

Paul Healy, Manager of the Rubicon Centre said:

“Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted but, year on year, we see others follow the path of today’s brightest new companies. For example, this year we have the start-up, WorkWall, founded by Richard Goggin whose previous career was based in the hospitality sector. WorkWall has just launched on the Irish market with research showing the company’s solution has a viable market outside of Ireland. WorkWall is creating solutions for challenging problems in the hospitality sector such as management of staff scheduling and the provision of an environment where the staff working on different rosters can connect.

Opportunities for Early Stage Entrepeneurs

Two other entrepreneurs launching their business this year, Dylan Hennessy of Frostbyte Cocktails and Victoria Stoyanova founder of Victoria Days, have already completed the Student INC programme for student entrepreneurs run by MTU and its partners, University College Cork, University of Limerick, the Technological University of the Atlantic and the Technological University of the Shannon. Frostbyte Cocktails and Victoria Days are bringing solutions to consumer markets and, while these two entrepreneurs are young graduates, their drive and attention to detail is on a par with the more experienced entrepreneurs launching today.”

The relationship between the ten new companies and the Rubicon Centre does not end on the completion of the New Frontiers programme. It is, in fact, only the beginning as these companies will continue to be supported as they accelerate and scale into the future, encouraging a growing number of people to choose entrepreneurship as a career.

Paul Healy said “We are always delighted to see the new companies launch but we are also aware of the challenges they will meet. We encourage them to continue to avail of support, not only from ourselves, but also from the New Frontiers programme partners, Enterprise Ireland, and the Local Enterprise Offices”.

The Rubicon Centre is now seeking new talent to take up the New Frontiers opportunity when the programme begins again in September 2022. Regardless of where entrepreneurs are based in Ireland, there is the opportunity to connect with the New Frontiers programme and receive a funding package worth €30,000, which includes not only mentoring, training, investor access and networking opportunities but also an initial cash stipend of €15,000 which does not require any equity to be given in return.

The New Frontiers programme provides an ideal opportunity for entrepreneurs at a start stage to be plugged in to an ecosystem that is agile and used to helping indigenous entrepreneurs to provide solutions to worldwide challenges.