Head of Ecosystem Development
Jake has led and scaled ecosystem development, membership operations, and community programs at globally recognized startup hubs in both the US and Dublin since 2016. Originally from Austin, Texas he currently leads nationwide and regional ecosystem development efforts across Ireland with a focus on the design and implementation of the NDRC Masterclass Series for ecosystem builders.
Previously the Head of Community for 120+ startups at Dogpatch Labs in Dublin while also managing their First Fridays for Startups program supporting more than 600 early-stage founders in partnership with Google.
Prior to his work in ecosystem development, he was a product manager at a high growth startup acquired by GrubHub managing their B2B delivery solution. Jake is passionate about personal development as well as helping founders and their businesses become the best versions of themselves.
Guest editors are local ecosystem leaders: successful founders, investors, or thought leaders. Have someone in mind? Nominate a country guest editor.
Disclaimer: all content within the Startup Ecosystem Summary and Editor’s Guide sections is written by and reflects the personal perspective of the guest editor. The guest editor is not responsible for content within the Country Snapshot and Community sections, as much of this content is compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the guest editor’s view.
The Irish startup ecosystem has been largely government led via funding and support until the last 4-5 years. Large exits and global successes have created second-wave entrepreneurs funded and supported by those early founders, resulting in a government-backed but founder-led ecosystem transition. Ireland benefits from a strong university system, one of the lowest corporation tax rates in Europe at 12.5% (although this will soon be phased out as a result of tax harmonization across the EU), a 25% tax credit against research and development costs, double taxation agreements with more than 60 countries, and geographic proximity to both Europe and the east coast of the US as major markets. Nine of the world’s top ten medical technology companies, such as Boston Scientific and Medtronic, have a significant presence in Ireland. Ten top digital companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Dropbox, Intel, and Facebook are also some of the biggest employers in Ireland, creating a deep talent pool from which startups can draw from. The Irish ecosystem, specifically in Dublin, is international, young, and very qualified for taking on other major European capital cities in terms of competitiveness.
The Irish ecosystem is at a major inflection point for the future of its startups. A trend across the ecosystem is the tying together of regional clusters to connect the dots across the country and make Ireland one unified proposition rather than multiple small markets. The transition mentioned in the intro, from government led to privately (founder) led marks a distinct point in the ecosystem’s maturity. What Ireland needs to fix in order for the next few years to truly be transformative is the share options scheme for founding employees (recruiting talent) and tax breaks/incentives for angel investment similar to the UKs Enterprise Investment Scheme.
Editor’s choice of the country’s top 10 emerging tech startups.
Agtech
Cork
Content
Dublin
Grocery Delivery
Dublin
Legal Tech
Dublin
Drone Delivery
Dublin
Design/No Code Apps
Dublin
Biotech
Dublin
Proptech
Dublin
Content
Galway
Employee Engagement Software
Cork
Editor’s pick of which ‘Featured Startup’ is especially worth following and why.
Editor’s choice of the industries with the most potential for technology disruption and growth.
Editor’s perspective of the maturity level of talent in the ecosystem.
Editor’s commentary on how the country’s culture and history have impacted the ecosystem.
Ireland has always been a country of doers, a “get the job done” mentality, and people filled with spirit; the Irish are great craic. Despite hundreds of years under British rule and more recently the severe economic crisis following 2008-2009, Ireland found itself putting some of the best scholars out into the world…just not based in Ireland. Until about 10-15 years ago, the country was suffering from serious brain drain, with some of the best indigenous talent moving away to London, the US, etc to find high paying jobs and opportunities. While still proudly Irish, this means the economic value created by new companies/growth was often realized in those countries rather than the reinvestment of resources into local areas.
This trend has since been reversing as Dublin has become an epicenter for major global firms’ EMEA headquarters. More recent shifts to remote work has led to an increase in workers/jobs/companies based outside of the main hub cities, creating chances for talent to stay in their home county nearer to family.
Interested in becoming more involved in this ecosystem and connecting with local ecosystem leaders? Let us know.
Act Venture Capital (Dublin)
Atlantic Bridge (Dublin): Atlantic Bridge is a Growth Equity Firm with a Cross Border Value Add strategy investing in deep technology companies in Europe and the US.
Delta Partners (Dublin)
Draper Esprit Ireland (Dublin)
Elkstone Partners (Dublin, Galway): Multi-family office.
Frontline (Dublin): Frontline backs B2B SaaS companies with international ambition. Whether you’re at an early stage with sights on the US, or at a later stage looking to the rich potential of Europe, we can help you get where you want to go.
Polaris Partners (Dublin)
Sure Valley Ventures (Dublin): An entrepreneur led Venture Capital Fund that invests in early stage software companies.
Dogpatch Labs (Dublin)
Guinness Enterprise Center (Dublin)
New Frontiers (Phase 1) (Country-wide)
Startup Boost (Dublin)
Ignite Accelerator (Dublin)
Propeller Shannon Accelerator (Shannon): Focuses on aviation and traveltech.
Dogpatch Labs (Dublin)
Huckletree Dublin (Dublin)
Ormeau Baths (Belfast)
Portershed (Galway)
Republic of Work (Cork)
Talent Garden Dublin (Dublin)
Coolest Projects (Dublin)
Dublin Tech Summit (Dublin)
Future Human (Dublin)
Dublin Data Science (Dublin)
Insurtech Ireland (Dublin)
ProductTank Cork (Cork)
ProductTank Dublin (Dublin)
PyLadies Dublin (Dublin)
Python Ireland (Dublin)
UX Network Galway (Galway)
Techfugees Ireland: Techfugees Ireland is focused on developing solutions to empower refugees with technology and promote refugee inclusion, integration and self-reliance.
TechIreland: An independent not for profit on a mission to promote Irish and Ireland based innovation to the world through data, content and community activities.
Dublin City University (Dublin)
Munster Technological University (Cork, Kerry)
NUI Galway (Galway)
Trinity College Dublin (Dublin)
University College Cork (Cork)
University College Dublin (Dublin)
Check out our Global Startup Ecosystem Database to discover top startups and ecosystem resources around the world!
*Updated with latest available data based on listed source.
*Updated with latest available data based on listed source.
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