Six Irish Software Companies To Look Out For In 2023

Flipdish joined the ranks of Irish unicorns earlier in 2022, and there are a number of indigenous Irish software companies raising large sums and looking to follow in the online ordering giant's footsteps.

Whether its software for salons, shopping delivery, smart kitchens or workplace productivity, these indigenous companies are using their own technologies to improve domestic and professional life.

Here are six Irish software and SaaS companies to look out for in 2023, based on their fundraising efforts this year.

Phorest

Hair and beauty salon software firm Phorest raised €11m earlier this year in a funding round led by Toronto's CIBC Innovation Banking to fund the introduction of new products. Phorest previously raised €20m in 2018 and was backed by Enterprise Ireland and the Halo Business Angel Network as an early-stage company.

The Dublin-based firm, founded in 2003 by Ronan Perceval, employs some 200 people and offers an office management software and other solutions that are used by some 8,500 businesses, including close to 90% of Irish salons and nearly 20% in the UK.

The software allows salons to take bookings online, manage appointments, rosters and stock, and create marketing campaigns and loyalty schemes. Accounts for parent Ndevor Systems Ltd show turnover grew from €16.6m to €21.5m last year, although the company made a loss of €4.4m after making a €665,000 profit in 2020.

Inclusio

Diversity & inclusion software provider Inclusio aids efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace through its platform, which is used by companies to collect diversity data through questionnaires and provide training through nudge learning.

Founder Sandra Healy, who also established the DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity & Inclusion spent four years researching and developing the platform, and the company has built a client base in the global professional services sector.

Inclusion recently secured a further €5m in investor funding in October, and a number of insurers are now using Inclusio to underpin a new Valuing Openness, inclusive Culture & Equity (VOiCE) benchmark to help the sector improve in terms of D&I.

Accounts for Ether Inclusio Solutions Ltd show the company had net assets of around €1m after making a loss of €595,000 last year. The company added five staff last year, bringing employee numbers to eight.

Keelvar

Intelligent sourcing automation solutions company Keelvar leverages AI, data sicence and smart sourcing bots in its software, which aims to help clients make their supply chain more efficient and cost-effective.

The Cork-based firm's clients include Coca-Cola, Nestle, Samsung and Tesco, and the company completed a €23m Series B funding round last May, helping to fuel its ambitions of US expansion.

Accounts show Keelvar made a loss of €4.7m last year, bringing its net liabilities to €11.3m, but the company is forging ahead with development of its software packages in anticipation of increased sales in the coming years.

Fresco

Fresco in April won €18m in financing from existing investors and three appliance brands interested in its smart kitchen platform and said it would use the funds to build a “world-leading experience for the connected kitchen."

The platform connects to compatible kitchen appliances, freeing up the chef to focus on meal preparation, and the Dublin-based company is now in the process of doubling its headcount to 100 with roles in product, engineering, design and security.

Founded in 2012, Fresco initially developed a weighing scales that connected with an iPad to manage recipe ingredients before pivoting to developing smart kitchen software.

Accumulated losses at parent company Adaptics Ltd stood at €14.8m at the end of 2020, after the annual trading loss was reduced to €1.7m from €4.7m the previous year.

Workvivo

Employee experience app maker Workvivo raised $38m this year after experiencing growth of 150% year-on-year growth for the past three years, and the Cork company now has offices in Boston, London and Dublin.

Workvivo offers a centralised communications hub where employees can post, comment and live stream video, and it also integrates workplace apps such as Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace and hundreds of HR, CRM and productivity tools.

Clients include Amazon, Bupa and Clipper Logistics, and the firm counts Zoom founder Eric S Yuan among its investors. Workvivo now employs 123 people, and accounts for 2021 show the company has net assets of €8.9m and turnover of €6.4m.

Buymie

Buymie continues to partner with supermarkets to enable them to offer their customers third-party shopping deliveries and now works with Lidl, Dunnes Stores, Asda and the Co-op in the UK, and now Woodie's DIY.

The same-day grocery delivery platform raised a further €7m this year, and the company has grown to more than 70 employees plus 400 personal shoppers employed as independent contractors.

Buymie made a further loss of €5m in 2021, bringing its total losses to €11.1m to date, but its services are estimated to be available to 2m households across Ireland and the UK through its app.

Reporting: Business Plus