10 NI start-ups net £10,000 funding each to develop their ideas

1 Jun 2022

The winners from this year’s Catalyst Co-Founders programme. Image: Catalyst

The 10 start-ups secured proof-of-concept funding after completing the first phase of Catalyst’s Co-Founders programme.

10 start-ups from Northern Ireland are getting a funding boost following their successful completion of the Catalyst Co-Founders programme.

The 10 early-stage companies will each get £10,000 in proof-of-concept funding to further develop their ideas.

Co-Founders is an annual entrepreneurship programme that has been run by Northern Ireland tech innovation non-profit Catalyst since 2017. It allows teams to validate their ideas, test them in the real world, develop their businesses and pitch for a proof-of-concept award.

The start-ups that have received funding this year span sectors from fintech and health to education and climate-tech.

As well as receiving funding to develop their businesses, they also progress to the next stage of the Catalyst Co-Founders programme. The second phase gives start-ups access to mentors and industry specialists to accelerate their idea.

“Co-Founders provides the opportunity for anyone with an entrepreneurial spark to come together and co-found a start-up in a supportive environment,” said Hannah Cummings, Co-Founders programme manager at Catalyst.

“We believe increasing the number of individuals with an entrepreneurial mindset will have huge benefits to the Northern Ireland economy.”

Catalyst’s Co-Founders programme is supported by the Department of the Economy in Northern Ireland.

Last year’s programme funded start-ups such as Belfast Lifestyle Medicine, which is developing an app for managing chronic conditions; Stable Pro, an online platform for managing horse wellbeing; and Atlas Fitness, a fitness app that uses machine learning to create custom workouts.

This year’s awardees are:

  • Pneuvo, a software platform designing better drugs to benefit humanity
  • Insurin, a mobile app that aims to help newly diagnosed diabetics to manage their condition
  • ProspectRx, an AI-directed precision medicine tool aimed at improving treatment options for poorly served patient populations
  • Medik.AI, an AI tool making it easier to analyse symptoms and direct patients to appropriate medical services
  • Stable Manager, an equestrian digital hub to quantify equine performance and simplify horse care
  • Pocket Angler, a dedicated fishery management system and real-time travel partner for anglers
  • Win it Together, a digital tool for fundraising raffles
  • Tapa, a tool connecting students in university to local employers seeking workers
  • Exapt Feedback, a tool making online learning work for everyone
  • Unify, a business and brand-building platform for the creator economy

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Blathnaid O’Dea was a Careers reporter at Silicon Republic until 2024.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com