Congratulations to the ten finalists of the AIB Start-up Academy in association with The Irish Times who are now beginning the next leg of their epic journey into the world of business.
Last week saw 20 Irish start-ups pitching to a panel of six judges in The Irish Times building for a chance to take part in the AIB Start-up Academy.
The 20 start-ups that made the shortlist were selected from a much larger group of several hundred applicants, but only 10 finalists would make it through to take part in the AIB Start-up Academy.
After much deliberation, the six judges made their decision and chose the ten start-ups they thought deserved a place in the AIB Start-up Academy.
Those lucky finalists are:
Blanco Nino, Everest Granola,
GymChef,
herdwatch,
KillBiller,
Obeo,
Usher,
worldBOX.ie,
Writing for Tiny and
Wyldsson.
Speaking about the final processes, Gary Quinn of
The Irish Times said: "while the prize was always a place on the academy, the feedback from the judges paid off immediately with excellent industry knowledge flowing directly into the product planning of each startup.
“Participants didn’t hide their enthusiasm for taking part in such a useful process and the determination to succeed shaped the atmosphere in The Irish Times boardroom throughout the day."
The AIB Start-up academy kicks off in January 2015 and will take place over 8-weeks. The finalists will get the chance to fine tune their businesses, from accounting to marketing strategies and everything else in between, and one overall winner will be chosen at the very end of the programme.
Here’s a look at what the overall prize winner will receive:
- €90,000 advertising spend across JOE.ie & Her.ie
- €50,000 print and online advertising spend with The Irish Times
- Profiling on JOE.ie & Her.ie for 12 months
- Mentoring from an AIB Sector Specialist and finance meetings with AIB SME Specialist
- Digital & Social mentoring with AIB Head of Digital & Innovation
- Brand mentoring with AIB Brand Director
- Media workshop from The Irish Times’ Editorial team
- Office space in The Irish Times building for a year
- Mentorship from successful entrepreneur Niall McGarry, owner of Maximum Media (creator of JOE.ie/Her.ie)
- One-to-one coaching programme
- Full day PR crash course
- One Day Digital & Social Training programme
