David Kavanagh, co-founder and managing director, Scrazzl
Today we are kicking off our One to Watch series that will look at Irish start-ups from the technology and scientific spaces that are fast making waves in their respective industries and could be on the cusp of something big for their niche innovations.
Over the next three months we’ll be featuring a One to Watch start-up video interview every Monday so you can hear from the entrepreneurs behind these new ventures.
Our first featured start-up is Scrazzl. The new venture was founded in 2009 by David Kavanagh, Desmond O’Shea and Paul Phillips. The idea for Scrazzl emerged from frustrations that two of the co-founders – Kavanagh and O’Shea – had experienced while working as scientific researchers.
By forging partnerships with publishers such as Reed-Elsevier, Scrazzl is on a mission to help suppliers reach scientists with information about their products. The start-up is also enabling users to carry out graphical analysis of scientific content and data. It’s planning to integrate data from other publishers and scientific data providers down the line.
Currently Scrazzl has a strategic affiliate deal with Reed-Elsevier. Over the next three years, the company is planning to grow this affiliate network to include a large proportion of the 2,000 science, technical and medical publishers globally.
Scrazzl has been funded to date through a combination of founder funding, seed funding and Enterprise Ireland finance. In August 2011, the start-up closed a private round of €250,000 from UK-based private angels, the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) in Dublin and Enterprise Ireland.
Check out our video interview with Scrazzl’s managing director David Kavanagh here.
Scrazzl is supported by the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC). Since NDRC was founded in 2007, it has worked with and invested in almost 80 digital ventures. “In that time we have had over 1,000 ideas and individuals come through our doors, and facilitated over €5m in following on investment,” says NDRC marketing and programme manager Amy Neale. “Whether you are a tech innovator or a keen investor, our door is always open.” For further information go to www.ndrc.ie
The One to Watch series is made possible through the support of NDRC, HBAN and Enterprise Ireland
