Gary Leden, NDRC
NDRC LaunchPad 10 is looking for 10 new start-ups to join the digital start-up accelerator in Dublin and experience an intensive three-month programme to bring them to market, while also receiving up to €20,000 in pre-seed investment.
To-date, the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) has invested in more than 150 start-ups and at the beginning of 2014, announced that its portfolio of start-up ventures have cumulatively secured €40m in commercial follow-on investment from angel and VC investors and a combined market capitalisation of about €120m.
Last February, the NDRC announced the 10 start-ups that were going to take part in LaunchPad 9, which included companies like Local Mint, Go Bramble and Meebler.
Gary Leyden of NDRC LaunchPad said of the next LaunchPad event: “We’re looking for start-ups who could go on to make a strong business impact and scale internationally. In particular, we’re seeking mid-career professionals who have deep domain knowledge and potentially disruptive new business ideas which can rapidly change the status quo, as well as early career people who are strong on technology and have an entrepreneurial mindset.”
Speaking of earlier entries, Leyden had praise for Soundwave, founded by Brendan O’Driscoll and Aidan Sliney. Soundwave is a music discovery, sharing and analytics app.
The company has recently been nominated for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Emerging Category) only two years after participating on NDRC LaunchPad.
Soundwave also won plaudits from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and investment from serial entrepreneur and international investor Mark Cuban.
