6 interesting Irish start-ups delving into data

2 Apr 2020

Image: © iana_kolesnikova/Stock.adobe.com

These Irish data analytics start-ups are focusing on a range of areas, from generating insights for the cosmetics industry to using data to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

This week, we take a look at some interesting data analytics companies in Ireland’s start-up scene at the moment. We’ve focused on data analytics and data science start-ups on Siliconrepublic.com in the past, and there’s no shortage of emerging firms working in this area.

But these six Irish companies have been chosen as high-potential start-ups (HPSUs) by Enterprise Ireland for their work with data. From a company tracking cosmetics purchases and providing recommendations to customers, to a healthcare platform offering predictive insights to care facilities, here are some businesses to watch in the coming months.

Beauty Buddy

Beauty Buddy is a Maynooth-based start-up that focuses on data analytics for the cosmetics industry. A former Siliconrepublic.com Start-up of the Week, the business was founded by sisters Wendy Slattery and Tracy Leavy in 2017.

Since then, the start-up has won the AIB Women in Enterprise award for its app, which aims to bring useful information to shoppers and important real-time insights to retailers and cosmetics businesses.

Beauty Buddy provides real-time data rather than static data, which enables brands to have direct access to customers to offer product personalisation and other advantages, while learning more about shopping habits. The platform then uses machine learning to recommend relevant product information to users.

Blockaviation

Blockaviation, based in Dublin’s Dogpatch Labs, was founded by Simon Mullaney and John Roberts. The start-up is developing a global register designed to centralise all aircraft records detailing maintenance and other crucial information, which could lead to savings in the aircraft industry.

The start-up believes that the data on its platform will provide “a whole new level of insight” into commercial aviation in Ireland and further afield. The company has worked with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to develop this database.

Since it was founded in 2017, the start-up has participated in a number of accelerators such as Barclays Techstars and Propeller Shannon, receiving backing from Boeing, Enterprise Ireland and the IAA.

CloudKPI

CloudKPI is an Irish predictive analytics start-up targeting the SaaS industry. Co-founded by Brenda Jordan and Maeve Kneafsey, the start-up has also featured in our Start-up of the Week series.

The firm is Kneafsey’s fourth start-up, while Jordan has extensive experience in identifying and analysing financial metrics. In December 2019, the start-up secured a significant contract with AWS and, according to the Business Post, the firm is expected to close its €750,000 seed funding round in the coming months.

The company’s insights platform enables SaaS businesses to see how they hold up against competitors in similar areas. CloudKPI primarily focuses on the North America market, where nearly half of the world’s SaaS businesses are based.

Empeal

Empeal, formerly known as Wind of Change, is an analytics-driven employee healthcare platform designed to boost productivity in the workplace. In light of the current climate, the start-up is now offering a Covid-19 resource kit which offers self-assessment, a visitor checklist and a virtual catch-up feature for businesses.

As well as offering a HR solution for companies using employee data to track attendance and productivity, the start-up also partners with the insurance sector to offer better insights to insurance companies offering customised packages.

Empeal is led by CEO Sohini De. The company, which is also based in Dublin’s Dogpatch Labs, is helping to provide nutrition, sleep, fitness, stress management and behavioural change analytics to workplaces.

Glimpse

Based in Rathfarnham, Glimpse is an adtech software company that uses augmented reality to analyse customers in real time when they visit large retail chains. The company uses this real-world information to generate relevant online, actionable data based on live dynamic statistics.

Glimpse uses this data to provide consumer understanding and targeted advertising software to media owners, buyers and specialists. The company’s platform offers audience measurement analytics to large scale digital-out-of-house (DOOH) advertisers and retailers. It tracks anonymous mobile data from shoppers to gain an understanding of their behaviour while in store.

The start-up aims to help retailers to act on footfall trends to make business decisions, especially during low seasons to maintain profitability. Glimpse offers demographic analysis, as an alternative to traditional customer surveys.

MedModus

MedModus is a business intelligence platform aimed at the healthcare industry. It was founded in 2017 and is led by Déaglán MagFhlionn. In December, the company raised €1m in investment.

MedModus provides the foundation for evidence-based decision-making with the goal of improving patient outcomes by helping clinicians and managers to better monitor and forecast operational performance across a number of areas, including care, compliance, finance and HR.

It can be used by health organisations in both primary and secondary care, emergency care, community care and social care. The company’s analytics platform provides real-time interactive reports on task management and waiting lists, among other areas.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the start-up has launched a predictive bed model and situation reporting to make assumptions on the volume of predicted cases and what kind of resources will be needed to deal with the influx of Covid-19 patients.

Want stories like this and more direct to your inbox? Sign up for Tech Trends, Silicon Republic’s weekly digest of need-to-know tech news.

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com