University College Dublin energy management spin-out named best emerging company in Ireland
Wattics, the NovaUCD based energy management company, has been named the Best Emerging Company in Ireland at the final of the InterTradeIreland 2012 all-island Seedcorn business competition.
In addition to the award Wattics won a €50,000 cash prize.
Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, CEO, Wattics and Hubert Brown-Kerr, InterTradeIreland Board Member
The announcement was made at the 10th annual competition took place at the iconic Titanic Belfast Building.
InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn competition aims to recognise and promote the best early-stage companies across the island of Ireland. It is the largest business competition on the island and is viewed by those in the industry as a strong indicator of companies to watch in future.
Wattics, a spin-out from University College Dublin (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 in 2011 by Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, Anthony Schoofs, Alex Sintoni and Seamus Porter as a spin-out company from UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics and the CLARITY Centre for Sensor Web Technologies.
The Wattics Team
Wattics CEO, Dr Antonio Ruzelli said, “Wattics revolutionary software solution provides a total understanding of all electrical equipment businesses needs to maximise energy savings. The Seedcorn award recognises the tremendous sales achievements, team effort and intellectual property created uniquely by the Wattics team.” He added, “We are absolutely thrilled by the potential of Wattics and we will focus on distributing our solution worldwide in the coming years through direct sales and indirect partnerships with key players in the energy market.”
He concluded, “Wattics will never stop innovating and delivering energy-efficiency to our customers while ensuring the best product, quality of service and an extraordinarily quick return on investment.”
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 Ireland at the final of the InterTradeIreland 2012 all-island 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.”
To find out more about Wattics watch our UCD Innovation video below.
Now in its 10th year, Seedcorn is the island’s biggest business competition for early stage/high growth companies in any sector, from any part of the island and this year had a record total cash prize fund of €280,000.
In total, 1,645 companies have now been through the Seedcorn process with a total of €2.49m in prize money being won.
Speaking at the final, Thomas Hunter McGowan, Chief Executive of InterTradeIreland said, “It is vital that we support young Irish companies who are at a critical stage of their development. In the 10 years that the Seedcorn Competition has been running, regional finalists have gone on to secure more than €159 million worth of equity. By taking part in Seedcorn, companies have had their business plans put through their paces, helping them to develop their presentation and pitching skills and providing them with advice from some of the leading people in the business world.”
He added, “I congratulate Wattics and Catagen on their success today. They have both overcome extremely tough competition not only today but also on their way to the final. These two companies are bright stars for the future and we at InterTradeIreland look forward to working with them and watching them grow.”
Catagen, which is based in Belfast and which manufactures and exports equipment for the catalytic converter testing market, was named Best High Growth Company and won €100,000 cash prize.
€10,000 was also awarded to Alanya Ltd from Cork, for the best venture stemming from a University spin-out or platform programme.
ENDS
29 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 Karen Ferris, Drury, t: +353 1 260 5000, e: karen.ferris@drury.ie
Editors Notes
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 cash prize fund of €280,000.
The competition aims to recreate the investment process. Finalists made their investment pitch to a new panel of judges, followed by a question and answer session at the final. Overall winners will receive their cash 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 looked 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.
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
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
