Patch Signs Three-Year Partnership with Stripe

Patch has announced a new six-figure financial partnership with payments firm Stripe. Stripe now joins other key Patch supporters, including Mark Cummins, Dogpatch Labs and the Naughton Foundation in funding the expansion of the teen accelerator programme.

As part of the three-year deal, Stripe is committing new financial resources and personnel to help Patch in its efforts to accelerate the development of exceptional young people. Mark Cummins (founder of Pointy, sold to Google) and the Naughton Foundation (Glen Dimplex) have supported Patch since its founding in 2018 and have committed alongside Stripe and Dogpatch Labs.

Patch founder Tom McCarthy said: “This is a phenomenal endorsement of Patch’s work. Long-term, large-scale support will help us realise our vision as somewhere that every talented young person can realise their full potential as a great founder, scientist or leader. Patchers will be able to learn about doing great work directly from people who have done it – whether that’s designing rockets, developing new therapeutics, or building companies like Pointy or Stripe.”

McCarthy, 21, founded Patch in 2018. Patch runs an annual summer accelerator for exceptionally talented young people, who then join the Patch community. Speakers at the summer programme include Iseult Ward (Foodcloud co-founder) and Des Traynor (Intercom co-founder), and Patch alumni to date include 4 BT Young Scientist overall winners.

The new funding will be used to support young people in a variety of ways, including expanding the summer accelerator to include science and research projects, developing nationwide programmes for identifying talented youth and possible international expansion. As part of the agreement, expert engineers, designers and professionals from Stripe will volunteer on Patch programmes and work with participants. Mark Cummins, Iseult Ward and other founders will continue to mentor teams.

Conor Casey, from Kenmare, Co. Kerry took part in Patch 2020. He said “I have never really had anyone to talk to that was of the same age… what I ended up talking to people about in school or on trips never really aligned with what I cared about. During Patch, I met so many amazing and bright people, and I was finally able to discuss topics that I was actually interested in, things such as genetics and the future of artificial intelligence. I didn’t feel alone anymore and it meant the world to me.”

“I’m hugely impressed by the quality of the young people who take part in Patch. They are consistently excellent, and I’m sure they are going to do some very interesting things over the next few years. It’s already a no-brainer that any young person interested in building something cool should want to be at Patch, but I think the programmes Patch creates over the next few years will be exceptional supports for talented youth,” said Mark Cummins, Founder of Pointy.

Eileen O’Mara, Head of Stripe EMEA, said:  “Stripe is funding Patch because we believe it will have a significant impact on the future of the Irish ecosystem. Patch creates an opportunity for young people to realise the same global ambition that we strive for at Stripe, and we want to directly participate in any chance to help a future John or Patrick Collison realise their potential. We’re very proud to be supporting Patch alongside Mark Cummins, Iseult Ward, Dogpatch Labs and many other excellent founders and technologists.”

Patch has a growing number of ecosystem partners, including the new Immersive Software Engineering (ISE) programme at University Limerick. Last month, Patch announced with ISE a new nationwide talent search for second level students. ISE is backed by global tech leaders. Patch also works with organisations such as the BT Young Scientist, CoderDojo and Scifest.

Applications for the next Patch Accelerator open in January 2022. You can keep up to date with Patch at joinpatch.org.

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