Irish start-ups are heading to SxSW

A number of Irish start-ups are heading to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin next week.

The interactive festival showcases cutting-edge technologies and global digital creativity.

IDA Ireland and Culture Ireland will be bringing Macnas to the Texas event for a pop-up street theatre spectacle on Saturday.

Barry O’Dowd, senior vice president of the IDA, explained why the festival is such a draw.

"It's the fastest-growing city in North America, and it's a real tech hub as a city," he said.

"We've managed to get a number of projects in recent times from that area including Indeed.com, which is a recruitment platform and Amazing.com just recently announced, so this week we'll have a team on the ground, doing a lot of marketing there and doing direct pitches to companies as well as running a number of events."