The Large Cork firms shortlisted for the Cork Chamber Company of the Year Awards

In the third of a four-part series looking at the finalists for Cork Chamber's Company of the Year Awards 2024, we profile the contenders in the Large company category

Everseen founder, Alan O’Herlihy, founded the company in 2007 and the firm now more than 1,000 people. Picture: Denis Minihane

Everseen is helping global retailers reduce costs through AI 

Everseen was somewhat ahead of the curve when it came to artificial intelligence as the company was set up in 2007 before AI became the common buzzword associated with bots including ChatGPT.

Its founder, Alan O’Herlihy, noticed there was a gap in the market for the use AI tech to help retailers make their operations more efficient, mitigate risks and reduce costs.

The firm uses video technology software that monitors self-service checkouts to alert staff of potential thefts or incorrectly scanned items.

The company, which is nominated in the Large Company of the Year category at the upcoming Cork Chamber awards, said it has helped tackle “the $100bn global annual retail shrink problem by processing and analysing 275 years of video daily and in real-time, while monitoring 220 million products and 22 million customer interactions per day”.

The business, now based in Blackpool in Cork city, provides its AI tech services some of the 15 of the world’s top retailers and employs around 1,100 people.

Last year, the company said its services were in use across 6,000 major retail stores and connecting 80,000 point-of-sale devices.

“Even though Everseen is a global company now, we started in Cork and we are proud of our roots,” said Mr O’Herlihy.

Everseen has expanded from its beginnings in Cork to operating offices in Barcelona and Miami. The company said it plans to “penetrate new markets” as well as enter into new contracts in the coming years while expanding its customer base.

Last year the company raised €65m as part of this growth plan in a funding round led by led by Crosspoint Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston that focuses on cybersecurity, privacy and infrastructure software.

The funding round marked the second time Crosspoint Capital chose to invest in Everseen to help it expand. “We have brought in world class leaders to strengthen our teams and we have achieved strong growth in the last year,” it said.

The deal was among the top 10 largest investments recorded last year for SMEs as startup funding fell dramatically to €460m during the first half 2023, a decrease of 40% compared with the same period a year earlier, a report by industry representative body TechIreland said.

At the time, the organisation said the findings were “sobering” and showed investors were spooked by a volatile economic environment of interest rate hikes and stubborn inflation. Prior to raising the funds, Everseen settled its lawsuit with US grocery giant Walmart in 2021.

Everseen began court proceedings in the US alleging that Walmart was producing its own version of the technology that Everseen was also selling to other companies. Walmart had denied the claim.

Everseen previously was honoured at the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards, which ranks Ireland’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies based on revenue growth over the last four years.

Fota Wildlife Park plans to increase its breeding programmes

Conservation organisation Fota Wildlife Park celebrated its 40th-anniversary last year but still eyes further success as it plans to develop buildings that will help expand its number of breeding programmes as part of its 10-year strategy.

The business, located on 100 acres at Fota Island, said the programmes were created in response to the increasing numbers of species becoming endangered in the wild and aim to provide greater support to species biodiversity both on a national and global scale.

Sean McKeown, Director of Fota Wildlife Park. Picture Dan Linehan

The non-profit has reinvested surplus generated yearly into capital projects and infrastructural improvements as a primary way of expanding.

The organisation, which is nominated in the Large Company of the Year category at the upcoming Cork Chamber Business Awards, is currently the second largest visitor attraction in Ireland outside of Leinster with an annual attendance of approximately 460,000 visitors.

“This nomination further heightens our passion for biodiversity conservation, education, research and sustainability. We pledge to expand on this work and further the socio-economic benefits of the Wildlife Park to the Cork region,” said Sean McKeown, Fota Wildlife Park director said.

The business said that “on every level, Fota’s financial, business, operational, animal and plant management models are designed to function sustainably long term to contribute to the future biodiversity of the planet”.

A significant percentage of the park’s faunal collection is in danger of extinction due to climate change and loss of habitat, therefore the organisation has increased efforts to being leaders in “environmental sustainability across all our business operations”.

Fota Wildlife Park is estimated to be worth €100m annually based on spending by holidaymakers. The organisation is open throughout the year and provides conservation, education, and research around protected wildlife.

The organisation, which employs approximately 77 people, has invested significantly in its digital offering that enable easier booking processes to potential park visitors.

Fota also said it continues to develop covered shelters and indoor areas around the Wildlife Park to facilitate the viewing of animals indoor exhibits during inclement weather. As a result the Park has seen a growth of 35% in visitor numbers during the off peak winter months.

One of the largest developments at the park was the Asian Sanctuary that commenced in 2014 with a Sumatran tiger habitat, an Indian rhino habitat in 2015 and the Asian lion habitat in 2016.

The Wildlife Park said it continues to maintain “the highest standards of wild animal husbandry and welfare with the redevelopment of older animal habitats with new facilities.”

The Zoological Society of Ireland (ZSI), which runs Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park, posted income of nearly €25m for 2022, a 21%, jump on the previous year.

West Cork Distillers eyes up acquisition opportunities this year

Skibbereen-based West Cork Distillers said it is eyeing up additional sites for another facility in the area and is considering international acquisitions to grow its international portfolio this year.

Ireland’s oldest and largest independent spirits producer based in West Cork said it is in the completion stages of a significant distillery expansion which enable production capacity to increase by 400% during 2024 and add an additional 40 jobs in the company.

John O’Connell, Denis McCarthy and Ger McCarthy, co-founders, West Cork Distillers​.

West Cork Distillers currently employs around 150 staff, a jump from 80 employees working at the firm during the pandemic, and is among the nominees in the Large company of the Year category at the upcoming Cork Chamber Business Awards.

West Cork Distillers was founded in 2003 by John O’Connell, Ger McCarthy and Denis McCarthy and was the first new distillery to open in Ireland since 1987. The distillery reportedly produces the equivalent of 60 million bottles of whiskey per annum.

The distillery is located on a 12.5 acre site in Skibbereen where produces whiskey and gin which is exported to over 70 countries worldwide.

“Our customers will range from small, independent on and off trade business owners, to large national supermarket chains such as Dunnes and Musgrave, to international retail chains and large international distributors,” the company said.

The business also has boots on the ground across the globe and has grown its commercial team across key markets such as North America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia Pacific region (APAC).

A key focus while growing the business is the firm’s “appetite for innovation” it said. The company has applied for up to 10 patents in the last three years.

Among the patents is the technology for the charring of casks. “This approach had never been taken before and positioned West Cork Distillers in a unique position”, the company said.

“Through science and innovation, we have developed some very unique IP within the alcoholic ingredients section of the business,” the company added.

Ingredients revenue in 2020 grew by 154% compared to the same period a year prior, which enabled the firm to “to weather the storm of covid-19.” Climate change is also central to the West Cork Distillers’ future plans as its byproducts are repurposed to supply animal feed for local farms and to generate bio-gas at Timoleague Agri Gen, which makes biogas and electricity from anaerobic digestion using waste food and manure.

The byproducts are also used to create organic fertiliser, boosting the growth of barley locally which is a used in the whiskey produced at the distillery.

The company’s warehouses are solar panelled and it has previously purchased energy back from the grid.

The company said its vision is to become “a socially, commercially and environmentally sustainable key player in the drinks industry globally.”