From left: Samuel Dennigan of Strong Roots, Ciara Clancy of Beats Medical and Alvan Hunt of Hexafly, who each won awards. Image: Mark Stedman
Beats Medical’s Ciara Clancy has been awarded the accolade of Ireland’s best young entrepreneur at a Google event.
Ciara Clancy, the woman behind Beats Medical, has added to her mass collection of accolades with the title of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE).
Receiving her latest award at Google HQ, Clancy, a physiotherapist, was lauded for the app that is transforming the lives of thousands of people with Parkinson’s disease all over the world.
There were 1,800 entrants aged between 18-35, and it was Clancy’s revolutionary app that earned her a €45,000 investment fund through the Local Enterprise Offices.
Beats Medical has exploded onto the scene in the past couple of years. Utilising individualised metronome therapy, the app improves mobility and reduces instances of gait freezing. It also provides users with daily assessments and regular progress reports.
“These success stories keep all of the team at Beats Medical motivated every day to do more for the people that use our service,” said Clancy, who hinted at a future business plan whereby similar apps are used to treat other illnesses, such as MS, stroke, dyspraxia and cerebral palsy.
“I want to congratulate and say a hearty ‘well done’ to Ciara Clancy of Beats Medical in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown on winning this year’s IBYE title,” said Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, TD.
“It is a superb achievement,” she said. “That said, all of our finalists here today are winners, having taken their ideas and concepts through a tough and rigorous process to make them market-ready.
“Seeing their projects come to fruition is enormously gratifying and is testament to the huge effort they have invested.”
In 2015, Clancy was named Laureate for Europe at the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, and Beats Medical also beat off the competition in Google’s Adopt a Startup programme.
Late last year, Beats Medical became the first Irish company to present at Google’s demo day.
Meanwhile, Alvan Hunt of Hexafly won in the best business idea category, while the winner of the best start-up business was Samuel Dennigan.
Hexafly uses cutting-edge biotechnology to find smart ways to feed the planet using the by-products of insects, while Strong Roots is providing new healthy alternatives in the frozen food sector.
