Winner of €25,000 Cash Prize To Be Announced At Web Summit

Three leading Irish start-ups have made it through to the final round of the ESB Spark of Genius Award at Web Summit 2015 after an intensive pitching round to a panel of diverse judges.

Fifteen start-ups from a range of industries, including healthcare and data analytics, had been selected from an exceptional 175 entries and invited to pitch to a panel of judges that included Helen McBreen, Investment Director at Atlantic Bridge, Shay Garvey, Partner at Frontline Ventures and Chad Nitschke, Co-Founder and CEO of Insure.VC. The three finalists to go through to the final stage of the ESB Spark of Genius competition at Web Summit are:

• Bizimply (www.bizimply.com) - the all-in-one people and shift management solution to change the way you work.

• SoapBox Labs (www.soapboxlabs.com) - enabling automated software based assessment of children's reading skills by developing a new speech technology based adaptive learning platform.

• Ayda (www.ayda.co) - worn only during sleep, Ayda enables you to effortlessly identify your most fertile days providing a clear window into your unique cycle data.

The three finalists will pitch their businesses at Web Summit 2015 on November 4th for a chance to win the prestigious ESB Spark of Genius award, along with a cash prize of €25,000 plus a range of services to assist them in the start-up phase. 

Speaking at the event, Mary Collins, ESB judge and a Partner in Greencoat Capital said: “The amazing calibre of companies we saw present at the final of the ESB Spark of Genius stage highlights the real talent and entrepreneurial spirit that exists in Ireland today. The success of previous winners proves that this competition is an important launch pad to the world stage of technology and ESB is delighted to help them on their journey.”

The competition is open to Irish startup in operation for less than 3 years and who have received under €1 million in funding to date.

Past winners of the ESB Spark of Genius Award include Love & Robots, Viddyad, Datahug and SmartThings, which was recently acquired by Samsung for a reported $200m.

More than 22,000 people from over 100 countries will attend Web Summit this year. Keynote speakers include John Collison of Stripe, Ed Catmull of Pixar and Chris Froome, Tour de France winner. 

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