👋 Céad míle fáilte! We’ve only gone and bloody done it! We just passed 2,000 newsletter subscribers, and it took half the time to get from 1,000 to 2,000 as it did to reach the first milestone. 🙌🏻
It may not sound massive in the grand scheme of things, but when we started this newsletter, hitting milestones like this felt a long way off. So we’re taking a moment to enjoy it.
Plenty more to come (including a brighter screen).
Now let's get down to business... Today’s edition is a 3 minute 30 seconds read. ⏩ In a rush? Here's your TL;DR:
✈️ Abroad: Ireland mints a new unicorn as NYC-based Imprint hits a $1.2B valuation; fintech Sequence raises $20M for AI billing; and DevAlly brings its "accessibility-as-code" mission to the US.
🏠 Home: A hiring surge in the Silicon Docks led by Harvey and Toast, while Irish health-tech firms Luminate and Biomarx secure major funding to transform cancer care.
🔮 Opinion: From Manna’s flight path to the "Sydney Dream" hitting a wall, we reveal our 5 Bold Predictions for the Irish tech and economic landscape in 2026.
🎙️ Founder: Meet Peadar Coyle, the technical mastermind at AudioStack who is helping brands like McDonald’s slash audio production times by 95%.
Enjoy ☕
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LATEST UPDATES
News from abroad ✈️
Imprint CEO and founder Daragh Murphy
🇺🇸 New Irish Titan: While most were in a turkey coma, the Irish tech scene minted its newest unicorn: Imprint. Founded by UCD alum Daragh Murphy, the NYC-headquartered payments platform achieved a $1.2 billion valuation after securing $150 million in Series D funding led by Khosla Ventures. By utilising its proprietary "ImprintCore" infrastructure, the startup allows brands like Booking.com and Rakuten to bypass legacy banks and launch embedded loyalty programs. This approach has tripled Imprint’s cardholder base (200% YoY growth), significantly increasing customer lifetime value for its partners. Imprint now plans to integrate AI and automation while expanding into debit and flexible financing.
🇺🇸 Agentic Finance: Irish co-founded fintech Sequence has raised $20M in Series A funding, led by 645 Ventures with participation from a16z, firstminute capital, and Passion Capital. Founded by Riya Grover, Eamon Jubbawy, and Enda Cahill, the company is building AI agents designed to automate the billing and quote-to-cash process. Sequence aims to reinvent the B2B revenue layer for Finance and RevOps teams, moving beyond manual workflows to handle complex, custom contracts. The new capital will be used to accelerate product development and go-to-market (GTM) strategies as the company continues to scale its AI-driven revenue platform.
🇺🇸 The Compliance Wave Hits the US: Dublin’s accessibility powerhouse DevAlly is officially taking its accessibility-as-code mission stateside. Following a successful pre-seed round, they are adding 10 new staff to support a major 2026 US expansion. This isn't just a feel-good story; it’s a high-stakes compliance play. With US litigation around ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance at an all-time high, DevAlly's AI-powered platform allows developers to fix accessibility issues while they code. Led by Cormac Chisholm, the team is betting that accessibility will become as standard in the dev-stack as cybersecurity.
At home 🏠
The Silicon Docks are getting crowded: OpenAI-backed Harvey prepares for a March launch, Toast commits to 120 new R&D roles, and Web Summit adds 60 positions, all while AI leaders OpenAI and Anthropic hunt for massive new office footprints.
Biomarx targets the "Big C": Belfast-based Biomarx raised £700,000 for a diagnostic platform focused on lung cancer. It’s a small raise with a massive mission: making early-stage screening as routine as a blood test.
Move Cancer Care Home: Galway-based Luminate Medical has secured €18M to scale its mission lets patients spend less time in clinics and more time at home. The funding will fuel the creation of 130 new jobs over the next three years.
Silicate Carbon’s €15M moonshot: Dublin-based Silicate Carbon is hunting for €15 million to scale their enhanced weathering tech. They take silicate rocks, crush them, and spread them on farms to suck CO2 out of the air and lock it into the soil for 1,000+ years.
OPINION
Our 2026 predicitons, brace yourself…
We are predicting a big year for Bobby Healy, Founder of Manna Drone Delivery.
After hitting a 50% success rate last year, we are back with our Irish Insights hot takes for 2026. Whether you’re looking for the next green unicorn or wondering if our luck on the pitch is finally about to change, here is the preview:
The Next Members of the Herd: Three "category kings" are racing toward the $500M+ valuation mark. We know Manna is on the flight path, but who are the other two contenders in the mix?
The "Great Rotation" in Banking: Why Irish pillar banks have become capital-generating machines that are currently crushing global indices.
A Drought-Ending Performance: One Irish star is eyeing a record-breaking move to a "Big Six" EPL club just in time for a historic World Cup run.
The Reverse Census: The data is in and for the first time this decade, the "Sydney Dream" is hitting a wall as a specific group of people flocks back to Irish shores.
A Milestone for the Community: We’re putting our skin in the game with a major growth target for the Irish Insights newsletter.
FOUNDERS DIRECTORY
Peadar Coyle - AudioStack
⚡ Quick Stats ⚡
- Role: Co-Founder & CTO
- Base: London
- Focus: Scalable AI, Software Engineering, & Data Science
- Team: 45 Employees
Peadar Coyle is the technical force behind AudioStack, an enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that is revolutionising how brands and agencies produce audio. Since 2019, he has scaled the platform to serve global giants like McDonald’s and Porsche, reducing production times by up to 95%.
A renowned expert in open-source AI and a former advisor to the UK government, Peadar is a core developer of the global PyMC3 library and literally wrote the book on data science culture through his published industry interviews.
🍀 The Global Irish Founder Directory | 130 Founders. 30 Countries. 1 Community. The Irish diaspora is building the future in every corner of the world. Are you on the map? Join the Directory | Explore the Map
BRAIN FOOD
5 other things we are snacking on this week
John Oliver Coffee’s latest warns that 10% of CVs now use "invisible" AI prompts to hack your screening tools and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health and says 230 million users ask about health each week.
From the next AI talent battle to the rise of new generalist roles, here’s where insiders think startups will need to hire most next year.
Why Aidan Corbett, Co-Founder & CEO at Wayflyer interviews everyone he hires.
Ireland’s 100 hottest start-ups to watch in 2026. From deep tech and AI to sustainability, Irish innovators are building world-class solutions.
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