Supporting Growth in Irish Startups, Google announces 15 Startups selected for its Adopt a Startup Programme

15 innovative Irish startups received a welcome boost from Google today after being accepted on to Google’s Adopt a Startup Programme. They will now have the opportunity to work closely with Google executives and identify how they can more quickly scale their businesses for growth both in Ireland and internationally. Previous alumni who have gone on to expand into global markets include FoodCloud, Jobbio, Beats Medical and CoderDoJo.

The 15 companies selected for the Spring Adopt a Startup Programme are; Allergy Lifestyle, Vrai, Change Donations, ConstructionBOS, Coroflo, Danalto, EdgeTier, FarmHedge, Limtz, Moby, PepTalk, RideShair, SureSitter,Teemie and Wrkit.

The breadth of innovation in the Irish startup community can be seen in the different business models and focus of each of the startups selected. Coroflo, for example, has developed the world’s first accurate breastfeeding monitor, while FarmHedge has developed a platform that helps farmers to easily coordinate their decisions with other farmers when buying farm inputs or selling crops, and Limtz offers a prepaid card solution for SMEs to large corporations.

Over the next eight weeks, the startups will undertake an intense programme of exclusive lectures and workshops, 1-on-1 on-site support with a team of passionate Googlers, and unique networking opportunities at Google’s EMEA Headquarters. Each startup will focus on the 4 crucial stages of growth: Understanding Your Customer, Building Your Brand, Growing Globally and Scaling Your Organisation. Participants will benefit from unmatched expertise and support in topics such as Analytics and UX, pitching and networking, automation and machine learning and how best to plan for global growth.

Following the completion of the programme, each startup will have the chance to pitch their own unique ‘growth plan’ to a panel of select judges. The prizes up for grabs include €10,000 in Google Ads credit and eligibility for the Google Cloud Programme which includes $100,000 in Google Cloud Credit.

Adopt a Startup programme to help the companies scale for growth

Speaking at the launch of Adopt a Startup Paddy Flynn, Director at Google said: “We are delighted to be announcing the 16 companies who have been selected for the spring edition of our Adopt a Startup Programme. Our focus is on the Priority Areas that will help these companies scale for growth and identify new opportunities for their businesses. The startups selected all demonstrate significant innovation and we believe have the opportunity to create new jobs and add value in their local communities. The team at Google are incredibly excited to start working with these ambitious startups and help them realise their businesses potential.”

The Adopt a Startup Programme has seen some familiar faces pass through its doors including Jobbio, global programming club CoderDojo, NewsWhip, The Happy Pear, Beats Medical, FoodCloud, Donegal-based Arklu which manufactures Lottie dolls and digital quality assurance and compliance software company Veri.ie, who also won last year’s Autumn programme.