Eimear McCormack of Grafton Media, who is now MD at Pitchify
Pitchify, the free networking event for start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs, will be having its next event in Dublin tomorrow evening. Already, more than 680 people have signed up to attend the event, which will see six start-ups pitch their ideas to a group of investors.
The Pitchify event series was set up last year by Brian Daly, a fourth-year student at National College of Ireland, and Darren Mulvihill, who works in the area of seed investing at Lucey Technology. Since then, two events have been held in Dublin.
The initial theme of the event was to inspire students about entrepreneurship, but Pitchify is now hoping to attract people with business ideas for new ventures, as well as start-ups.
Catherine Flynn, who is manager of Global Marketing Solutions (UK) at Facebook, will be giving the keynote speech at tomorrow’s event. She will be discussing how Facebook can be used for business.
The VC pitch
As well as this, six start-ups will be pitching to potential investors at Pitchify. Each business will have three minutes to pitch their ideas.
The digital media agency Grafton Media has also taken a stake in Pitchify in recent weeks, with the aim of taking the start-up networking event to other European cities.
Eimear McCormack, Grafton Media’s international marketing director, is set to become Pitchify’s managing director, with Daly staying on as CEO.
Speaking today, McCormack said Grafton Media has taken a shareholding in Pitchify to help internationalise it.
“Already we have 680 people who have registered to attend tomorrow’s event. I will be the MC on the night. Pitchify is all about nurturing that start-up talent and bringing it to the next level,” she said.
Investors will also be in situ tomorrow night to check out the start-ups, McCormack confirmed.
“They range from company CEOs to venture capitalists operating in Ireland,” she said.
The plan is to hold Pitchify events every couple of months in order to reach out to people with solid business ideas, as well as students.
Spreading the start-up vibe
McCormack said another goal is to spread the event series to other European cities.
“We’re hoping to run our first event in London. We have already received interest from venture capitalists and the start-up community there,” she said. “After that we are aiming for Manchester, Paris and Berlin.”
Tomorrow’s Pitchify event will kick off at the Odeon bar on Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, from 6.30pm. Those interested in going along tomorrow night can still register.
