👋 Céad míle fáilte! Well, this week has not been a slow one on the news front. Davos has brought together all the heavy hitters from politics, business, and media right as it’s all kicking off.
Trump’s incredible message to Europe sent shockwaves across the world and made many question the very structures that our global alliances are built on. The term ‘uncertain times’ has been bandied about a lot this week.
But, irish insights is here with a message of hope: One thing that is certain is that Irish entrepreneurs at home and abroad are still building, still scaling, still raising, and still fighting!
This week we have some great updates on fantastic founders who will no doubt put a smile on your face, here’s the quick rundown:
✈️ Abroad: David Lynch’s Klir raises $17.5 million in growth finance, the Sligo man named in Forbes 30 under 30, Circuit secure investment from Lloyds, and the Irish founder paving the way in Austria.
🔥Spat: Ireland’s very own outspoken CEO, Michael O’Leary, has got into some strange heat with Elon Musk.
🏠 Home: Boundless is is acquired by Payoneer, Equal1 brings in €50M in funding, Eolas Medical raises $12 million to grow its solution within the NHS, and much more.
🌶️ Hot Job: Senior Partner Relationship Manager in New York (On-Site). You’ll play a pivotal role in unlocking new opportunities, strengthening collaboration and driving mutual success.
Lets dive in 🤿
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LATEST UPDATES
News from abroad ✈️
Dr Joseph Mooney, 28-year-old Sligo native recognised in the Forbes 30 Under 30
🇨🇦 Klir Secures $10M Series B Investment: Klir: Led by Irish CEO David Lynch, has closed a $10 million Series B equity investment and secured a $7.5 million credit facility from Innovation Banking at CIBC. This funding will strengthen the company's position as a trusted infrastructure provider for water utilities across North America. With a founder- and employee-controlled structure, Klir continues to prioritise long-term stability and customer needs. Lynch emphasized the importance of maintaining control as the company scales, ensuring that decisions are guided by the best interests of their clients.
🇺🇸 Sligo’s Dr Joseph Mooney Recognised in Forbes 30 Under 30: Dr Joseph Mooney, a 28-year-old from Drumcliffe, Sligo, has been named in the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 for his groundbreaking work in climate and sustainability. Based in the US for over three years, Mooney co-founded WattAir, a climate-tech company developing innovative technology to harvest clean drinking water from the air. This solution has significant potential to address global sustainability challenges and water scarcity.
🇪🇺 Syntropic is leading in Austria: EU Startup’s announced their 10 start ups to watch in each country. Among Austria's standout startups is Vienna-based Syntropic Medical, founded in 2023 and led by CTO Jack O'Keefe, an Irish entrepreneur. The company is developing a non-invasive, light-based treatment for depression, using flickering light to stimulate immune cells in the brain, potentially aiding neural repair. With €2.4 million raised and first-in-human tests completed, Syntropic is running feasibility studies in Brazil and the US. Their goal is to provide a non-pharmaceutical, accessible alternative for those with major depressive disorder.
🇬🇧 Circuit Secures Lloyd's of London Investment: Circuit has secured a strategic investment from Lloyd's of London, after collaborating with underwriters at Lloyd’s Lab to solve the scalability issue in digital asset insurance. Founded by Harry Donnelly, their new technology moves assets to safety in seconds during an attack, offering automated blockchain-speed responses. Now integrated into major insurers' underwriting processes, this innovation unlocks substantial premium discounts. More products and partnerships are set to follow.
✈️ O’Leary vs Musk: Not technically news from abroad but it’s just too funny not to include. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has turned a public clash with Elon Musk into a marketing win, using Musk’s criticism of Ryanair’s refusal to install Starlink on its planes to promote “Ryanair’s big ‘idiot’ seat sale,” boosting traffic and bookings by 2-3%. There was also this line…
At home 🏠
Dee Coakley and Emily Castles - co-founders of Boundless
Payoneer Acquires Boundless: US fintech Payoneer has acquired Dublin-based start-up Boundless, a platform simplifying cross-border payroll, taxes, and compliance to help manage global talent and address payroll complexities.
Equal 1 Secures €50M Funding: Dublin-based Equal 1 has raised €51.5M to advance its quantum computing technology and deploy the world’s first Irish-made quantum computer server, Bell-1, for data centres.
AICertified Raises €1M: Irish education tech company AICertified has secured €1M in seed investment to create a global standard for AI skills and certification, with plans to launch AI certification courses in 2026.
Eolas Medical Raises $12M: Northern Irish health-tech company Eolas Medical has raised $12M to scale its AI search platform within the NHS, aimed at improving clinical safety, productivity, and decision-making speed.
TeamFeePay Raises £9M: Belfast-based sports tech company TeamFeePay has raised £9M to expand its operations and create 75 new jobs, led by CEO Liam McStravick.
Shorla Oncology Raises $21M: Life sciences company Shorla Oncology, co-founded by Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan, has raised $21M (€18M) in the first tranche of its Series C funding round.
INSIGHTS
How Irish Construction Companies Conquered Data Centres
Members of the Gavle GAA Club.
Photo credit: Philip O’Connor, Irish in Sweden
Irish Know-How: Irish construction firms are leading the charge in the booming data centre sector, building the digital backbone for the world’s biggest tech giants.
Lucky Break: Thanks to a 90s boom in foreign investment, Ireland became the go-to hub for global tech players like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft – talk about hitting the jackpot!
Bouncing Back: After the 2008 crash, Irish construction companies got smart, pivoting to data centres and making the sector their own – talk about resilience!
Swedish Success: Irish firms like Kirby, Suir, and Sisk are doing a bang-up job in Sweden’s data centre market, taking full advantage of that cold climate and green energy.
AI Is Here: With AI pushing data demand through the roof, Irish companies are leading the way in building the next generation of supercharged data centres.
Going Global: From Dublin to Gävle, Irish construction expertise is expanding across Europe, bringing a little bit of Irish magic to international projects.
👉 FULL STORY: How Irish Construction Companies Conquered Data Centres
💼 IRISH INSIGHTS JOB BOARD
What Irish firms are hiring?
Principal Integrated Campaign Manager at Intercom. San Francisco (On-Site). You’ll architect and lead the execution of high-impact, global campaigns that generate measurable pipeline and revenue growth for a business at the forefront of the AI agent revolution
Senior Full Stack Engineer at Qualio (Remote-EU). A unified quality and compliance management platform that helps regulated organizations get products to market faster with reduced risk
Business Development Representative at Evercam. South Africa. You’ll be joining a fast-scaling company redefining how construction projects are managed and measured.
Senior Partner Relationship Manager at CarTrawler. New York (On-Site). With a strong focus on growth, performance and commercial excellence, the Senior Partner Relationship Manager plays a pivotal role in unlocking new opportunities, strengthening collaboration and driving mutual success
Senior Customer Success Manager at CameraMatics. Remote -friendly Carriganore, Waterford). You’ll become the internal and external voice of success working cross-functionally to design platform setups that solve real-world problems and presenting data-rich QBRs that clearly show performance improvement and ROI.
Hiring? Post a job for free
BRAIN FOOD
5 other things we are snacking on this week
The average price of a pint of Guinness has been laid by the Irish Times and it’s grim reading.
Back to Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech has also got people talking.
On the Davos theme, EU Inc is officially launched! Conor Sheridan of Nory shared his thoughts.
Who wrote that Roy Keane was an embarrassment in this week’s Irish Mirror? I’ll tell you who wrote it - Eamon Dunphy.
Our very own Jessie Buckley has been nominated for an Oscar.
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