Ireland has long been a fertile ground for innovation, entrepreneurship and bold thinking but now more than ever, it’s time to shine a spotlight on the next generation of game-changers. The Business Post’s Hot 100 Start-Ups supplement celebrates the energy, creativity and resilience of Ireland’s emerging businesses. These companies are not just shaping industries — they are fuelling economic growth, creating jobs and transforming local communities.

From Mayo-based payroll software business Payslip, which was started by Fidelma McGuirk and has to date raised €12.4 million, to cloud software business Greyscout which raised €3.5 million in seed funding last year, these companies are among the greatest in fresh thinking and dynamic business leadership on display here in Ireland.

In conjunction with our partners in Enterprise Ireland, the Business Post is delighted to celebrate the best in Irish ingenuity, entrepreneurship and endeavour. Start-ups are the lifeblood of a vibrant economy. They bring fresh ideas, disrupt traditional models, and challenge established players. From tech innovators to sustainability pioneers, the Hot 100 Start-Ups represent the best of what Ireland has to offer.

By highlighting their stories, we’re championing the brave entrepreneurs who dare to build something new, who see opportunities where others see obstacles.

But it’s more than just celebrating success; it’s about fostering a culture of innovation and inspiration. When we spotlight these start-ups, we encourage the next wave of founders to follow their dreams and push the boundaries. We show that Ireland is a dynamic hub for start-up activity, attracting investment, talent, and global attention.

This list is not just a testament to hard work and ingenuity — it’s a glimpse into the future of business. These 100 companies are the ones to watch, and we’re proud to champion them in our supplement. We hope you enjoy our list.

Barry Sherry,  co-founder and  chief executive of ACEL Energy

Ross McDowell and Niall Harty, co-founders of All Real Nutrition

Ross McDowell and Niall Harty, co-founders of All Real Nutrition

Keeping things natural is the focus of Co Kerry-based All Real Nutrition. As the name suggests, the goal of the natural protein bar company is to keep all of its ingredients real and natural.

Founded by Ross McDowell and Niall Harty in 2020, the Farranfore business started out after McDowell discovered biltong, a dried beef snack, while living in South Africa. Upon moving back to Ireland, he used Irish beef to bring a high-protein snack to Ireland.

Having secured partnerships with BWG, Tesco and Musgrave in Ireland, the business has since expanded to selling its products in the UK and US.

The focus on keeping things natural goes beyond the ingredients in the bars. The wrappers used for the products are compostable, to aid with sustainability.

Gina Oglesby, founder of Back to Work Connect

The BackAware Belt is a wearable technology designed to improve posture, exercise technique and alleviate back pain.

The business was founded by Eoin Everard in 2022 and is based in Kilkenny city. Equipped with sensors, BackAware Belt monitors your back position in real-time and provides gentle reminders for correction.

The belt connects to a smartphone app, where you can access follow-along videos that display your back position, giving you confidence that you are doing everything safely and correctly.

BiaSol is an Offaly-based business that is on a mission to eliminate food waste by using ingredients that are left over from the manufacturing process.

Founded in Tullamore by siblings Niamh and Ruairi Dooley, the business was started in 2020 and upcycles food ingredients.

The first range of products came from spent grain from breweries, with BiaSol (also known as Lurgan Foods), working with four independent craft breweries to source the grain.

The business is working with O’Hara’s brewing in Co Carlow, Brú in Co Meath, Dead Centre in Athlone, Co Westmeath, and Ballykilcavan in Co Laois to reduce their waste.

BiaSol’s products include scone and pancake mixes and morning breakfast cereals, all developed using upcycled grains.

BiaSol has also become an official supplier to the IRFU and the business aims to work with larger food brands to help upcycle their spent ingredients.

Lee Coffey, chief technology officer,  and Tim Roche, chief executive,  of BioEnz Technologies

Lee Coffey, chief technology officer,  and Tim Roche, chief executive,  of BioEnz Technologies

BioEnz Technologies is a Waterford-based business focused on enzyme discovery and microbiological solutions. BioEnz is based on over 20 years of research with a proprietary biobank and discovery platform. It is developing new and improved enzyme and bespoke biocatalyst solutions for more sustainable and impactful environmental, nutritional and therapeutic applications.

The business was founded in 2020 by Lee Coffey, Tim Roche and Jens Bleiel and played a big role in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, where it worked with South East Technological University to develop a method of accelerating the process of tests for the virus.

The business was one of 12 selected by Enterprise Ireland this year for its Prep4Seed programme, a 12-week course designed to prepare start-ups for seed investment and pitching to investors.

Paul Savage, chief operating officer, Brightbeam. Picture: Maura Hickey

Paul Savage, chief operating officer, Brightbeam. Picture: Maura Hickey

Brightbeam is growing fast, on course to double the number of staff it had at the start of 2024 to 28 by the end of this year.

The Irish AI business, which operates on a fully remote basis, was founded by Paul Savage, Brian Hanly and Phil Black in 2023 and has raised €450,000 in funding to date.

The company helps businesses make better use of AI, finding ways to adapt it for use in their processes. Savage was previously with Nearform, where he was chief operating officer, and all of the co-founders have known each other for decades.

Brightbeam expects to close its first US deal by the end of this year and to grow further in that market into 2025.

Brian Kenneally, Bundledocs

Capella Workplace Solutions is an Irish-owned hybrid working solutions provider. The company, which was founded in 2020 by Criona Turley and Victoria Yanakos, was established to help businesses navigate the almost overnight transition to remote and hybrid working during the pandemic.

Capella’s software facilitates hot desk booking, office heat mapping, work-from-home risk assessments, as well as analytical tools to optimise collaboration in the workplace.

The business also offers data and insights into how hybrid working is performing across a business, which can be used to inform company policy. The ESRI, the Department of Social Protection and Barnardo’s are among the Irish organisations using Capella’s technology.

The company is in the process of completing the roll-out of 30 roles, announced last year, which will more than double its workforce as it aims to generate over €10 million in annual revenue by 2027.

Marie Toft

Marie Toft

Emotionise AI is an artificial intelligence business that aims to teach machines to understand how humans feel and develop communications tools based on that.

The business was founded in 2018 by Marie Toft, Tim Pat Dufficy and Siva Sharma, the idea for the business grew out of Toft’s prior work experience and subsequent study in university.

It was during her studies that Toft decided to combine her research with developing a business and she joined the Going for Growth scheme with Enterprise Ireland.

Growing out initially from GPT-3, the forerunner to ChatGPT, the access to large language models provided the business with the ability to further enhance the capacity of the AI she was developing. It is now part of the high potential start-up unit (HPSU) in Enterprise Ireland.

Killian Gaffney,  chief executive of EquiTrace

Examfly, a Dublin-based start-up, was founded by Deirdre Lyons, originally from Ballingarry, Co. Limerick, in 2019. The business provides online training for professional services exams, such as accounting and tax. It has five staff and has raised €2 million in funding.

The interactive learning model developed by Examfly is designed to help people achieve qualifications quicker. Lyons developed the idea based on her own experiences studying in college and working in PwC and Davy.

The business has already secured work with some of the largest professional services firms in Ireland and the UK and aims to double its staff over the next two years. The goal for Lyons is to expand the business into the UK and US, while also growing in Ireland, where she believes she can repeat the success Examfly has already enjoyed.

David Deneher of Field of Vision

David Deneher of Field of Vision

Field of Vision is a Dublin-based start-up that is helping the visually impaired have a better experience at live sporting events.

The business was founded by David Deneher, Tim Farrelly and Omar Salem in 2020 and has raised €250,000 to date.

Field of Vision is based at Dogpatch Labs and has created a haptic response tablet for use at different sports events. The device is held by the user and it buzzes to provide ideas of where the ball is and what is happening.

Having successfully completed trials with Manchester City in the English Premier League and Toyota Racing in Japan, the business secured its biggest deal to date in 2022 through a partnership with Telstra in Australia. The telco wanted to showcase its 5G technology and Field of Vision adapted its technology for use in Aussie Rules at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

The next step for the business is a focus on the US, particularly targeted on the state of Georgia which is a hub for sports tech and home to several major sports teams.

Future Planet was founded by Donal Daly and Ingrid De Doncker in 2021 and is an AI-powered software platform that helps businesses understand and reduce their climate emissions, while achieving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

The company has 15 staff and some significant goals, aiming for turnover of €30 million by 2029 with 500 per cent growth forecast for this year.

Future Planet’s cloud-based software intakes many data points when compiling its ESG reports. The business claims its technology produces reports in minutes which would have taken weeks to do manually.

The surge in companies in Europe that need to provide ESG reports is key to Future Planet’s bullishness.

The EU’s Corporate Social Reporting Directive (CSRD) means that more than 50,000 such businesses will need to provide such reports from January, compared to just 11,000 now.

That’s a market Future Planet is confident it can grow with and assist.

Gráinne Mullins of Grá Chocolates

Gráinne Mullins

Sometimes a name is just waiting for a business. Gráinne Mullins may not believe in nominative determinism but Grá Chocolates was the perfect fit when titling the Galway-based business.

The luxury chocolate business has expanded into the US after receiving approval from authorities there last year.

Mullins has ten years of experience working as a pastry chef in Michelin-star restaurants and Grá was a project she developed when restaurants closed during the Covid pandemic and she needed to find another way to do business.

She started the company in 2020, having got the idea from hand-painting Easter eggs for friends and family. Followers on social media asked where they could buy the chocolates and the business has taken off from there.

Grá Chocolates has been featured on the Late Late Show and an episode of Beyond the Menu with Mark Moriarty. Mullins aims to keep developing in Galway, eventually creating a visitor centre to go alongside the factory.

Stephen Smith of Green Treats

GreyScout is a cloud software business-to-business company that works with brands such as NETGEAR and Dorel to monitor online channels for intellectual property (IP) infringements.

Those infringements can cover anything from counterfeit products to fake accounts on social media sites.

GreyScout, launched in 2020, was set up by John Killian and Chris McCauley and has offices in both Dogpatch Labs in Dublin and TUS Midlands.

Last year proved a big one for GreyScout as it completed its seed funding round, raising €3.5 million, in a round jointly led by Act Venture Capital and Tribal, with Furthr VC, Enterprise Ireland and HBAN also participating.

This came on top of a pre-seed round of €1 million raised in 2022, which brings the total funds raised to date by the business to €4.5 million.

With the grey market (the unofficial market for counterfeit goods) valued at around €825 billion annually by the OECD, the opportunity for GreyScout is significant.

Ground Wellbeing was founded by Peigín Crowley in 2020 that develops wellness treatments and products.

The company was founded with the aim of helping to relieve people from anxiety, menopause, burnout, gut issues, as well as provide treatments for people going through cancer and chemotherapy.

Crowley worked as a consultant for 10 years, designing spas and products as well as training teams for various hotels. When lockdown happened, she turned her passion for helping people into a business.

The company’s range of balms and oils have been sold to hotel spas such as the K Club, the Shelbourne, Mount Juliet Estate, and the Europe Hotel & Resort as well as treatments such as hot and cold stones and holistic massage. Ground Wellbing’s products are also stocked in Brown Thomas.

The business is focused on growth in new markets now, with Japan in particular on its radar due to work done by Ground Wellbeing as part of the HPSU in Enterprise Ireland.