The start-up finalists in Northern Ireland science and technology hub Catalyst’s INVENT competition have been announced.
Spread across a range of sectors, including greentech, health and wellbeing, product, consumer and business software, the finalists will be in with a chance of taking home up to £25,000.
Each category winner will receive £5,000, with the overall winner taking home an additional £20,000. Additional prizes of £1,000 will be awarded to the best student application and best elevator pitch delivered on the night of the INVENT awards held in September.
The INVENT competition, which is backed by Bank of Ireland, takes place each year and aims to showcase and reward local innovations and proof of concept ideas which have the greatest commercial potential.
“Invent provides a unique opportunity for early-stage companies to showcase their ideas to the best in the business,” Elaine Smyth, Director of Innovation Community at Catalyst, said. “The standard of the competition entries gets better every year, making it increasingly difficult for the judges. I feel inspired by the innovation, creative thinking and knowledge showcased by our ten finalists and it really highlights the talent the Northern Ireland tech sector has to offer.”
Last year’s winner was Coleraine-based StimOxyGen. The company has developed technology that enhances the effects of cancer treatment by overcoming the problem of hypoxia in solid tumours. It uses oxygen generating nanoparticles to generate transient oxygen within solid tumours and has the potential to improve the efficacy of many cancer treatments and transform patient outcomes across the world.
A number of previous INVENT winners have used the competition as a platform to start scaling their businesses, with alumni including the likes of CropSafe, which recently announced it had raised $3 million in seed funding, and Overwatch Research, which was acquired by US tech company Benchling earlier this year.
“Selecting this year’s INVENT finalists from the talented semi-finalists presented to the judging panel was a very tough task,” Niall Devlin, Head of Business Banking NI at Bank of Ireland UK, said. “Their brilliant business ideas were truly inspirational. It’s amazing to see their vision, creative thinking, knowledge, skills and ambition. We have selected 10 amazing finalists that showcase the depth and quality of Northern Ireland’s future business leaders, each offering innovative ideas with global potential.
“Congratulations to all the finalists as they progress through the remaining stages of the competition. I look forward to the Final Awards evening in September.”
The finalists are:
Greentech: Plaswire Ltd; Phasora Ltd
Health and Wellbeing: Mind-Mapper Ltd; Pulse AI
Product: Field of Vision; Vikela Armour
Consumer Software: Link; Academic Fish Ltd
Business Software: Thunder; Allergy Act
