Mustard wins 30K NDRC Lift Off to conclude 2014 LaunchPad

By @SimonCocking

Non ITN images by Conor McCabe photography

Winning startup Mustard gets access to follow-on investment of up to €30,000 @MustardWorks

NDRC LaunchPad 10, one of Europe’s top accelerator programmes, concluded with Mustard winning the Lift Off competition.

Mustard were deserved winners. Gavin Fogarty presented well. He wasn’t thrown by a small technical glitch, he actively spoke to the audience, and he told a simple, understandable story to the audience. Prior to the pitches John Ason, a self proclaimed fox investor, clearly outlined what would make a successful pitch. He asked for them to tell him what they did, why this particular market, impress him about yourself and your company. He emphasised they needed to make an emotional appeal to him, use less words, and big simple statements.

While this all might seem completely logical, not all of the pitches managed to nail this challenge. Some presentations were not smooth, clear, flowing deliveries. Mustard had great visuals, a big shout out to their designer Karl Fitzgerald @KarlFitzG, and told their story clearly and understandably. They had already secured other funding, which as Paul Hayes @paulhayesman said, it only made him want them more!

CTO John Rowan & Lead designer Karl Fitzgerald from Mustard looking surprisingly calm before the pitch

Founded by Gavin Fogarty, CEO, Mustard connects businesses with short-term positions to fill, with the best available candidates.  The technology enables staffing agencies to instantly find and book talent from their existing network, as well as from a trusted freelance marketplace. The application can range from temporary office staff, through to construction and event staffing.

NDRC CEO Ben Hurley “ LaunchPad is designed to transform new tech concepts into commercially viable ventures suitable for next-stage investment-fuelled growth. The 13 participants in the most recent programme have come a long way and are now investor-ready and set to scale their products and businesses. NDRC provides a company’s first investment, before anyone else will take this position in a startup business.” 

NDRC is ranked in the top 2.5% of university business incubators worldwide in the Global Benchmark Report 2014 by the UBI Index. This was the highest placement for an Irish organisation

For further information: Amy Neale, NDRC Director of Communications, [email protected], 01 5424155, www.ndrc.ie  

Here’s the list of start-ups on NDRC LaunchPad

AFTERING @After_WhatNow

Aftering is an online platform to help you prepare and plan for loss. It is a resource that empowers people to make personalised choices, plan and save money. Aftering works by connecting bereaved people to trusted information to make better decisions.

APPSELEKT @AmasatAlphaApps

AppSelekt will democratise the business app world. AppSelekt is a marketplace for business apps focused on the salesforce.com ecosystem. We are 100% vendor neutral. AppSelekt helps buyers fully understand and express their needs. Algorithms impartially match those needs to the right apps. AppSelekt connects app vendors with deeply qualified projects they are suited to deliver. AppSelekt is a product by Amasat.

CHASING RETURNS @ChasingReturns

A professional quality risk management platform to non-professional (retail) traders.

Most traders win more trades than they lose, but only 15% of them convert this to consistent profitability. Emotions cloud traders’ thinking so they keep losers too long & let go winners too soon. We find triggers in each person’s historical trade history, and provide them with a dashboard to help control impulses. With the Chasing Returns platform traders can manage their losses more effectively, leading to significantly higher profits.

GO LOLLY @GolollyHQ

GoLolly empowers tweens to get the gifts they really want by creating Lolly funds online and inviting their friends and family to contribute. Gololly.com makes cash gifting for all life’s occasions, from birthdays to bar mitzvahs, simple, safe, social and fun.

PLANET VERIFY @PlanetVerify

PlanetVerify is a secure identity platform where letting agents can quickly verify the identity and documents of tenants, saving them as much as 70% of their verification costs in a market worth more than €750 million in the UK & Ireland alone. Tenants build their profile and have documents loaded and verified, all from their phone.

PROSPR @ProsprHealth

Prospr transforms the way Nutrition and Fitness Professionals do business enabling them to better connect with their clients, saving valuable time and increasing revenues. For a small monthly fee, professionals can engage with more clients on a day-to-day basis,  track the food they are eating, instant message, give feedback, and monitor client progression through reporting and analytics features. Early 2015 will see the addition of two new features: platform support for wearable technology and a brand new Booking & Payments feature.

PUSHSTARTR @Pushstartr

Pushstartr provides businesses with a real-time view of their database network. Data from multiple sources can be accessed from a single location. Our technology integrates SQL and NoSQL, ideal for any company using data to grow and optimise their business. We simplify data for business and developers.

TRADEFLOW @TradeFlowHQ

TradeFlow drives down costs experienced by banks and trading institutions as a result of delays settling trades. In times of increased regulation and focus on costs, TradeFlow brings increased clarity and efficiency to trade processing and operations.

TRAVAYL @travayl

Lets you organize your trip around what matters, focusing on visual content discovery. It’s a two-sided platform, anyone can monetize their travel photos and videos.

TRIALVIEW @TrialViewLtd

In Ireland, the UK, the USA and other jurisdictions worldwide, legal cases rely almost exclusively on paper. TrialView is cloud based that enables lawyers to assemble, co-ordinate and present their case electronically. The key feature is device to device presentation. TrialView allows lawyers and judges to use to their own devices to present and follow material discussed at court.

SIGNATUR @SignaturCo

Signatur creates tools to enable future mass market adoption of blockchain based technologies. Signatur Pay is an efficient way for businesses to facilitate international money transfers involving different currencies. Signatur created two hardware wallets for Bitcoin: Signatur Vault is a long term storage device and Signatur Card enables in-store payments.

YAPME @GetYapMe

A mobile application for the photo sharing space and the way we capture memories. It allows you to take stunning HD pictures, and share them easily with your friends and followers on your YapMe feed, popular Social-Networks or on its native private messenger. YapMe also helps brands and businesses in order to express creativity, promote brand and connect with audience in a different way.