Trinity welcomes six new campus companies

Posted on: 27 November 2024

Six  new campus companies - active in health, education, engineering and more - were announced at the recent Trinity Innovation Awards 2024, joining a portfolio of 37 that have spun out over the last seven years.

Collectively Trinity campus companies have raised over €400 million in this period, as well as creating more than 800 jobs. A total of 24 have become Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start Ups.  

Notable successes include Soapbox Labs, founded by Trish Scanlon, which was acquired at the end of last year, maintaining Trinity’s record of at least one acquisition per year over the last six years. 

Several other campus companies including Ulysses Neuroscience, CroiValve, Vertigenius, Altach Biomedical, Danalto and Akara Robotics raised follow-on rounds of funding in excess of €20 million. 

Dr Michelle Olmstead, Trinity’s Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer said:

“Our approach to spin-outs is designed to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world application, providing support and resources to turn ideas into entities with social and economic impact. We are looking to mature the innovation ecosystem within Trinity, but also Ireland. We look forward to continuing our collaborations through Portal and Trinity Innovation and Enterprise. I want to acknowledge the management team, Vincent Coole, Director of KnEx (knowledge exchange), Neil Gordon, Director of Portal, Nessa McEniff, Managing Director of Learnovate, who continue to bring together a community of innovative and enterprise leaders”.

Neil Gordon, the newly appointed Director of Portal, Trinity’s gateway to an innovation community said: “I would like to acknowledge Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Funding, that provides the cornerstone for the development of Trinity spinouts, along with other research funding sources, commercial leads and business partners.  I would also like to recognise angel investors that invest early, and the institutional investors including Atlantic Bridge”.

Enterprise Ireland and Knowledge Transfer Ireland deserve credit for their support of the technology transfer function through KT Boost (ERDF and Enterprise Ireland) funding. 

The companies are:

• eAltra 

Founded last year by Denis Roche (pictured below with Provost Dr Linda Doyle), this firm is based on research in the ADAPT SFI Research Centre. Funded through EI commercialisation funding,  the company’s conversational AI platform delivers remote pre-clinical attendance patient assessments. This technology supports nurses, and reduces the stress for patients that might be travelling long distances for cancer treatments. The company has had several successful hospital trials, was recently approved as an Enterprise Ireland HPSU and is engaging a number of private investors.  

• ALPACA
• A gamified, highly-visual tool to engage all children. Aimed at those beginning reading, the ALPACA digital tool is designed to identify any potential issues with reading at a very young age. Based on an 18-month collaboration between The Learnovate Centre, Marino Institute of Education and the School of Education, the project was awarded funding under Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund. Founded by Joe Fernandez (pictured below), the team is backed by research from Dr. Jennifer O’Sullivan and supported by Dr. Ann Devitt. The ALPACA platform is designed to ensure that no child is left behind when it comes to literacy skills.
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• TILT
• This is a spinout from the Department of Sociology, and the ADAPT Centre. TILT has developed innovative digital roleplay training that improves and measures diversity and inclusion (D&I) performance within organisations. TILT was co-founded by Professor Anne Holohan, based in the Department of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy and by Conor McNally (pictured below), based in the SFI ADAPT Centre. It hopes to expand globally in the next 12 months, after significant engagement with a wide range of partners over the last year. 

• Kinemo has a whole-body kinematics tracking tool developed through interdisciplinary research across Mechanical, Manufacturing, and Biomedical Engineering. Led by Professors Ciaran Simms (pictured below)  and Aljosa Smolic, this cutting-edge technology represents a major leap forward in movement analysis. The team also includes Clara Mercadal and Leo Peyton. They use artificial intelligence to track and analyze athletes' three-dimensional joint movements during exercise and rehabilitation using just a single mobile device. Working closely with Leinster Rugby, the company is raising investment and has trials underway with several professional sports organisations across soccer, rugby, GAA and Australian football.

• DigiAcademy imagines a world where opportunity is as inclusive as talent. Where barriers fall away, and everyone, no matter their abilities, has a chance to contribute, create, and thrive. That’s the vision behind DigiAcademy, the new platform that does more than just open doors; it redesigns the workplace to welcome everyone. Based on extensive research by Esther Murphy (pictured below), it was co-designed with people with accessibility needs to ensure it is inclusive to everyone. The company is currently deploying its solution across a number of partners and customers, here in Ireland and abroad.

• Vzarii Therapeutics is based on pioneering research from Prof. Jane Farrar’s lab, and is developing gene therapy solutions for prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, including dry AMD, glaucoma, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Motor Neuron Disease. Jane is supported by a highly experienced team including commercial lead Loretto Callaghan, and researchers Dr. Sophia Millington-Ward and Dr. Naomi Chadderton. i 

Photo (R-L) with Provost,  founder Jane Farrer, Loretto Callaghan and Naomi Chadderton 

ENDS

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