NovaUCD company named winner of InterTradeIreland Seedcorn regional final
Wattics secures €20,000 in funding and goes forward to national final
NovaUCD based company, Wattics, was today named the Best Emerging Company in the Dublin final of the 2012 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn all-island business competition.
Wattics beat tough competition from two other Dublin finalists in their category to win €20,000 to help finance the innovative young venture. The company will now go on to compete in the all-island final of the competition, which will take place on the 28 November 2012 at the iconic Titanic Belfast building.
Seamus Porter, Sales Director, Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, CEO,
Now in its tenth year, Seedcorn is the island’s biggest business competition for early stage/high growth companies in any sector, from any part of the island. The competition, aimed at companies who have a new equity funding requirement, has a record prize fund of €280,000.
To date, InterTradeIreland has supported over 1,600 enterprising companies through the Seedcorn process and previous finalists have gone on to leverage around €159 million worth of equity since taking part. The Seedcorn competition is considered an important barometer for new and emerging companies among the investment and business communities.
Wattics, a spin-out from UCD, has engineered an innovative software solution that connects to off-the-shelf smart meters and discreetly decode energy patterns of individual electrical loads demonstrating energy savings for businesses.
The solution works with electrical, gas, water and heat meters used in industrial and commercial sites and deliver pioneering insights to deeply diagnose power use and alert in real-time if a machinery or set of appliances are experiencing energy inefficiency. The system demonstrated to significantly reduce energy cost in industrial and commercial settings and to provide a very quick return on investment for the customer.
Wattics was founded by Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, Anthony Schoofs and Alex Sintoni as a spin-out company from UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics and the CLARITY Centre for Sensor Web Technologies.
To find out more about Wattics watch our UCD Innovation video below.
Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, CEO Wattics said, “We are thrilled to have won the Dublin Best Emerging final. The Seedcorn competition is the best platform in the country to get in touch with investors, prove our business proposition and increase company visibility and respectability. We have learnt hugely about what an investor is expecting from a high potential start-up, about providing scalability for our proposition and how to pitch clearly and effectively our competitive advantage to a large audience. Now we’re going to put all our efforts into the national final at the end of this month.”
Professor Peter Clinch, UCD Vice-President for Innovation said, “I am delighted that Wattics, a UCD spin-out company, commercialising UCD research outputs, has been named the Best Emerging Company in the Dublin Regional Final of the InterTradeIreland 2012 Seedcorn Business Competition. One of UCD’s key innovation themes is to grow and support new high-tech and innovative businesses such as Wattics. This win demonstrates the quality of the start-up companies emerging from NovaUCD our Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs.” He added. “I wish Antonio and the entire Wattics team every success at the final later this month.”
Thomas Hunter McGowan, Chief Executive, InterTradeIreland added, “It is inspiring to see the level of innovative thinking, determination and optimism for the future displayed by businesses coming through this process. These companies have the potential to be a key driver of future economic growth. The Seedcorn competition reaches out to businesses at the early stages in their development and it is exciting for InterTradeIreland to work with these companies at such a crucial stage of their business. The quality of companies in the Dublin final was outstanding and I congratulate Wattics on their win today from this very competitive field.”
Wattics will go head-to-head with the winners of the Northern Ireland, Munster and Connacht & Leinster finals for the title of overall Best Emerging Company.
Finalist companies also benefits from being part of the Seedcorn Network, an extensive business and investment community that helps boost their profile, contacts and future potential investment opportunities.
The all-island finals will take place at the Titanic Belfast building on the 28 November, where companies are in with a chance to compete for the overall ‘Best Emerging Company’ prize worth €50,000 or the overall ‘Best High Growth Company’ prize worth €100,000.
Previous finalists have included companies from sectors including technology, online, medical devices, green tech solution, healthcare solutions and consumer products.
Tethras, which is also headquartered at NovaUCD, was the 2011 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Business Competition, Dublin regional winner in the High-Growth company category.
ENDS
13 November2012
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: + 353 1 716 3712, Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, CEO, Wattics, e: antonio.ruzzelli@wattics.com, t: + 353 87 410 5486 or Morwenna Rice, Drury, t: +353 1 260 5000, e: morwenna.rice@drury.ie.
Editors Notes
InterTradeIreland is the only organisation which supports SMEs across the island to develop North/South trade and business development opportunities for the mutual benefit of both economies. InterTradeIreland encourages better use of Ireland’s collective resources to accelerate trade and business growth across the island and create an environment where it is easier to do business. It achieves this through co-operative business, policy and research programmes, partnerships and networks. www.intertradeireland.com
Seedcorn is the largest business competition for early stage/high growth companies in any sector on any part of the island. The competition, aimed at companies that have a new equity funding requirement, has a record prize fund of €280,000.
The competition aims to recreate the investment process. Regional finalists will be invited to make their investment pitch to a new panel of judges, followed by a question and answer session at the final on Wednesday 28th November 2012. Overall winners will receive their prize of either €50,000 for Best Emerging Company or €100,000 for Best High Growth Company. €10,000 will also be awarded for the best venture stemming from the University spinouts and platform programme.
Judges look for the same elements as a potential investor including:
- High growth companies
- The optimum risk/reward profile
- A strong management team
- Ability to exit
The competition offers budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop their business idea, improve their business plan and make their concept investor ready. It also ensures exposure to venture capitalists and other equity providers and increases the profile of the business. All companies who enter the competition automatically become part of the Seedcorn Network, an extensive business community which helps boost the company’s profile, contacts and investment opportunities. www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn
Wattics has developed an innovative ‘clever metering’ system to provide businesses with insights into their energy usage, per individual appliance and to assist them in achieving significant energy savings. Wattics was incorporated in 2011 by Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, Alex Sintoni and Anthony Schoofs, as a spin-out company from UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics and the CLARITY Centre for Sensor Web Technologies. www.wattics.com
At NovaUCD, the hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, we provide purpose-built, state-of-the-art incubation facilities for knowledge-intensive companies alongside a comprehensive business support programme for our client companies. At NovaUCD we nurture new technology and knowledge-intensive enterprises such as Wattics. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx. www.ucd.ie/innovation
