Hibra and Skippio win big at Prep4Seed start-up awards

29 Nov 2023

Skippio founder and CEO Daniel Coen. Image: Skippio

Skippio, our first Start-up of the Week in November, bagged the Best Pitch award after pitching to a panel of angel and VC investors at Enterprise Ireland yesterday.

Irish autotech start-up Hibra Design has been awarded the One to Watch prize at the Investor Pitch Day hosted by Enterprise Ireland yesterday (28 November).

The award follows Hibra Design’s participation in the 12-week Prep4Seed Programme delivered by Ireland’s four Business Innovation Centres (BICs) that saw 11 Irish start-ups prepare for seed investment and pitch to angel and VC investors on the final day.

Skippio, a fan experience management app that featured as this month’s first Start-up of the Week, received the Best Pitch award at the event held in the Enterprise Ireland headquarters in Dublin.

Other companies participating in Prep4Seed include Customs Window, Emere Procurement, Everywhere English, Konree Innovation, Maya Data Privacy, REClosure, RetroKit, Voice Tune and Femtech Healthcare. Together, they were pitching for €10m in investment.

“The Prep4Seed programme, in collaboration with the four BICs, has shown to be an effective building platform to nurture entrepreneurs and the enterprise leaders of the future,” said Leo McAdams, divisional manager at Enterprise Ireland.

“The start-ups represented here today will continue to be the driving force behind the development in innovation across all regions as well as export growth. Enterprise Ireland looks forward to supporting these high-growth start-ups on their investment journey.”

Based in Cork, Hibra Design offers decarbonisation as a service by electrifying traditional diesel off-road vehicles, such as mining trucks. Hibra was one of 15 start-ups to graduate from Munster Technological University’s New Frontiers programme earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Dublin-based Skippio was founded by former management consultant Daniel Coen to reduce queueing times at festivals and other events.

Skippio was one of the first Irish start-ups to secure the Enterprise Ireland Pre-Seed Fund valued at €100,000, allowing it to expand its headcount and scale its operations across the island of Ireland.

“The Prep4Seed programme does what it says – it firstly focuses you to consider all of the aspects of your company from an investor perspective,” said Margaret Rae, managing director and co-founder of Konree Innovation. “Each company is then provided with tailored direction in preparing their investor pitch and company documentation in a streamlined and highly supportive process.”

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Vish Gain is a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com