Regional hubs join multinationals to support growing start-ups

First Fridays for start-ups will deliver workshops and advisory panels with globally successful start-ups founders countrywide

From left: Mary Rodgers, chief executive of the Irish Tech Hub Network; DC Cahalane, director of First Fridays for start-ups at Dogpatch Labs; Andreea Wade, head of talent cloud AI iCIMS; and Paddy Flynn, VP of geo data operations at Google.

Multinational companies are partnering with a number of regional innovation hubs to help start-ups across the island of Ireland scale as part of an expanded initiative.

Dogpatch Labs, a start-up incubator, and Tech Hub Network are joining forces with Google, HubSpot, Microsoft and Salesforce for a reinvented programme called First Fridays for start-ups, which will deliver workshops and advisory panels with globally successful start-ups founders countrywide.

“The fact that Google, HubSpot, Microsoft and Salesforce are committed to and engaging with local start-ups is the next step to creating more indigenous unicorn companies and a unique economic differentiator for Ireland,” said veteran start-up adviser and founder of Cork’s Republic of Work innovation hub, DC Cahalane.

More than 1,000 mentors from Ireland’s foreign direct investment community of multinationals will be available to mentor Irish start-ups and help them scale through this new initiative.

The programme will be delivered monthly in regional start-up hubs that partner with Dogpatch Labs across the country. These hubs are located in Skibbereen, Galway, Kerry, Cork, Belfast, and Dublin.

'Boost for the regions'

“This is a real boost for the regions, extending equal access to the wealth of multinational talent to founders across the island of Ireland. We hope to inspire founders and give Irish start-ups unrivalled access to global networks as they seek to go out beyond our shores and conquer the world,” said chief executive of the Irish Tech Hub Network, Mary Rodgers.

This initiative is an expansion of a programme run by Dogpatch Labs and Google in Dublin for the past five years, which has to date attracted more than 7,000 attendees, 650 start-ups and delivered over 1,000 mentoring hours.

“Over the past 10 years, Google has taken great pride in supporting First Fridays as well as a broader set of initiatives as part of our long-term commitment to this country. I’m pleased to see the broader FDI community engage in this important expanded initiative with the shared intent of building a stronger ecosystem,” said vice-president of geo data operations at Google
Google Paddy Flynn.

Dogpatch Labs is located in Dublin Docklands and supports 120 start-ups and over 500 members from 30 countries. It also runs the NDRC, Ireland's national start-up accelerator programme, in partnership with regional hubs Portershed, Republic of Work, and RDI Hub.

Dogpatch Labs industry partners include Ulster Bank, Google, ESB, Pivotal, Unilever and Alltech. One of its notable programmes is Alltech’s Pearse Lyons Accelerator, considered one of the top agtech programmes globally with start-ups applying from 52 countries.