Business-Matching Sales Initiative “DealStart” Launches 2nd Round of Startup Support

The tech startup programme “DealStart” set up by it@cork European Tech Cluster, has announced its second round of support for businesses in the Munster region. The programme matches tech startups with multinationals in the Munster Region to drive key sales and business development.

The DealStart programme helps fledging businesses to grow faster, smarter and more profitably by matching them with a large company mentor in the area of procurement and business development. DealStart enables the organisations involved to share information, insights and expertise on procurement with small enterprises.

“In order to fuel economic growth and increase jobs, we must drive an effective ecosystem focused on tangible results.  The collaboration of FDI multinationals and indigenous startup companies is innovative and powerful. The first DealStart was a huge success, with a number of SMEs securing global access, sales, references, advice to grow their business. The MNCs also learned and received potential solutions for their strategies. This is industry collaboration at its best, and our Cluster will continue to lead the way with thought leadership” explains Denis Collins, Chairman it@cork European Tech Cluster.

“For start up companies, landing that first deal with a large multinational can be invaluable when it comes to building credibility and understanding the complex procurement processes in large organisations and how to best navigate them. DealStart gives startups access to global corporations and fast tracks them to success in winning deals with large organisations” says Robert O’Donohue, EMC and programme co-ordinator.

Already an impressive number of global organisations, all of whom have a strong presence in Munster, have pledged their commitment to the programme.  EMC, IBM, Trend Micro, VMWare, Qualcomm and Dell.

“This initiative is totally unique in Ireland. It’s a symbiotic partnership between multinationals and start ups that can potentially offer tremendous benefit to both parties. Large organisations can learn agility, new models of innovation and responsiveness to market trends, while startups can experience the processes of a large organisation and get valuable insights into winning that crucial first ‘big name’ commercial engagement”, says Robert O’Donohue.

“DealStart is proving to be a catalyst for start ups, providing them with access to management and procurement teams in global organisations, jump starting their engagement with multinationals”, he added.

Recruitment of start ups for the DealStart initiative is underway with a deadline of the end of May 2014. To participate in the programme, applicant companies must be in business no longer than 3 years. There is a review process in place to ensure that start ups are matched carefully with suitable multinationals, to ensure optimal collaboration. Interested parties should visit www.itcork.ie and complete the application form online.