Five start-ups get smart funding

Smart Start, an accelerator programme for high potential start-ups, has announced details of the first five Irish companies to receive its funding and support.
Selected from over 150 applications, the five companies each received €12,000 in seed funding and will now embark on a four month programme of business and financial mentoring.
The chosen five are:
* Carlow based Gavin O’Reilly and Dublin man Stephen Doherty of Recruitlegal.com, a niche online jobs board aimed initially at the US legal sector.
* Galway based Gary Stewart of Paretos CRM, a highly flexible, easy to use online sales management system.
* Dubliner Joanna Norton of Click4ESOL, which creates multi-media learning content to support the language and literacy needs of second language speakers.
* Louth based Adrian Flynn of Aqua Fresh Fish, an environmentally friendly method of farming exotic fish in land-based recirculation aquaculture systems.
* Louth based Helen Bradley-Lennon and Damian Purcell of GolfersDen, a multi-functional golf platform that enables golfers to access top structured video tuition on an iphone app.
Founded by business mentor and trainer Gerry Moan, Smart Start pools bright ideas, passion and vision with experienced mentors, funding and advice. Supported by Enterprise Ireland, the programme is based at the Regional Development Centre (RDC) at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Smart Start’s team of mentors, investors and entrepreneurs comprises financial, legal and technology specialists from Deloitte, Byrne Wallace, Razor Coast, Tapadoo and Sharp Design.
The programme will introduce participants to angel investors throughout Ireland and the UK and also has established venture capital relationships with BK Partners and US based Garage Technology Ventures.
In return for a 6% equity stake in each company, Smart Start provides seed funding as well as expertise, resources and networks to help the businesses for future growth.
The programme culminates in a trip to Silicon Valley, where the companies will have an opportunity to pitch their businesses to a range of venture capitalists and potential angel investors.
For more information, visit www.smartstart.ie.