The it@cork European Tech Cluster has begun the second round of its initiative to connect start-ups in the Munster region with multinationals in order to drive sales and business development.
The DealStart programme helps fledging businesses to grow faster, smarter and more profitably by matching them with a large company mentor in the area of procurement and business development. DealStart enables the organisations involved to share information, insights and expertise on procurement with small enterprises.
“In order to fuel economic growth and increase jobs, we must drive an effective ecosystem focused on tangible results,” said it@cork chairman Denis Collins.
“The collaboration of FDI multinationals and indigenous start-up companies is innovative and powerful. The first DealStart was a huge success, with a number of SMEs securing global access, sales, references and advice to grow their business.
“The multinationals also learned and received potential solutions for their strategies. This is industry collaboration at its best, and our cluster will continue to lead the way with thought leadership.”
Multinationals that have pledged to work with start-ups in the Munster region include EMC, IBM, Trend Micro, VMware, Qualcomm and Dell.
“For start-up companies, landing that first deal with a large multinational can be invaluable when it comes to building credibility and understanding the complex procurement processes in large organisations and how to best navigate them,” said Robert O’Donoghue, EMC and DealStart programme co-ordinator.
Fast track to business growth
“DealStart gives start-ups access to global corporations and fast tracks them to success in winning deals with large organisations.
“This initiative is totally unique in Ireland; it’s a symbiotic partnership between multinationals and start-ups that can potentially offer tremendous benefit to both parties. Large organisations can learn agility, new models of innovation and responsiveness to market trends, while start-ups can experience the processes of a large organisation and get valuable insights into winning that crucial first ‘big name’ commercial engagement,” O’Donoghue added.
Recruitment of start-ups for the DealStart initiative is under way. The deadline is the end of May.
To participate in the programme, applicant companies must be in business no longer than three years.
There is a review process in place to ensure start-ups are matched carefully with suitable multinationals, to ensure optimal collaboration. Interested parties should visit the it@cork website and complete the application form.
Start position image via Shutterstock
