START-UPS
WORKOS ACQUIRES FOUR-YEAR OLD MODULZ
NEWS, VIEWS AND PROFILES ON THE LATEST START-UPS IN IRELAND
€140m
A new fund from Irish firm Act Venture Capital, which intends to back about 35 early-stage tech companies.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Aidan Finn CEO, BINARII LABS
How have you funded the business to date?
We have raised US$1.6m so far between Irish, UK and US-based angel investors to support the launch of our solutions focused on making blockchain relevant for business.
What’s the best advice you have been given?
If you hold off on taking action until you have the perfect plan, you will never be very active!
What was the most important lesson you learned starting out?
Starting out is the easy, exciting and exhilarating bit. I learned quickly that the demanding work and real test of will comes with sticking at it.
Your biggest make or break moment?
My wife Iarla Dunphy has put in an extraordinary amount of work over the past nine years across different initiatives that made Binarii possible. Knowing I had her full support was a genuine make or break moment.
Is there anything you would change in hindsight? I would have taken the leap an awful lot sooner.
Company: Binarii Labs, founded in September 2021 Location: Kildare and NovaUCD, Dublin. Soon to add Singapore, California and London Product: B2B SaaS solutions that utilise blockchain as an integral part of their design to both protect and create efficiencies for enterprise Staff: 10
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Dublin start-up Modulz has been acquired by San Francisco-based WorkOS, a platform for developers building enterprise software, for an undisclosed sum. Colm Tuite and Stephen Hanley set up Modulz four years ago to fix the disconnect between digital product teams. They created Radix and Stitches, two very successful opensource projects supported by a thriving community. With this acquisition, the Modulz team has joined WorkOS to help developers build apps faster and ship enterprise features effortlessly, according to a WorkOS statement.
IBM SUPPORTING IRISH COMPANIES Enterprise Ireland and IBM are collaborating to provide Irish high-potential start-up and scale-up companies with resources, tools and technology to help them expand internationally. The IBM OpenXChange programme is designed to complement and enrich IBM’s start-up and build partner programmes. The OpenXChange team will design and execute bespoke partnership strategies towards common growth and success objectives with these Irish companies. “Ensuring that Irish companies can access the cutting-edge technology of leading multinationals based in Ireland gives our start-up companies a competitive edge in global markets,” said Jenny Melia, Division Manager at Enterprise Ireland.
InBUSINESS | SUMMER 2022
15/07/2022 16:35