December 2013 RTÉ’s Dragon part of Startup Dream Team Launching an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Galway

Startup Galway’s first guest is Pat Phelan, CEO and Founder of Trustev – this week named by Forbes as one of the top 7 Tech Start-ups globally

RTÉ Dragon and outgoing Vice President of Cisco Systems Barry O’Sullivan, John Breslin of NUI Galway and co-founder of Boards.ie, John Brosnan, CEO and founder of Netfort Technologies and Michael FitzGerald, CEO and founder of OnePageCRM have come together to create Startup Galway.

Startup Galway aims to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Galway and this Thursday December 19 in McSwiggan’s at 8pm its first guest is Pat Phelan, CEO and Founder of Trustev, this week named as one of Forbes’ Magazine Top 7 Tech Startups Globally for 2013.

Trustev, a real-time online identity verification service designed to eliminate fraud from e-commerce transactions has raised €3m in seed funding this year. CEO Pat Phelan is a serial entrepreneur in the internet, mobile, and telecoms sectors. It was his own negative experience with online fraud as an e-commerce merchant that led him to develop technologies to address this drain on revenues.

RTÉ Dragon Barry O’Sullivan says “Startup Galway is about bringing together the tech community in Galway to share ideas and experience so we can grow successful companies, we want Galway to be the Birthplace of Ambition for future global technology companies.”

NUI Galway’s John Breslin says "The presence of several national research labs, including Insight, a new national multi-location Centre for Data Analytics (formerly DERI), and the Irish Marine Institute contribute significantly to the number of PhD students and researchers working in Galway".

“We have a great range of tech startups here in Galway, including the likes of OnePageCRM, Ex Ordo, Element Wave, Duolog, Netfort, BuilderEngine, Pocket Anatomy, Altocloud, SpamTitan, Meterlogix, RealSim, Tribal City Interactive and Alison.com. These are in close proximity to larger companies like DigitalOptics Corporation, Cisco, HP, Avaya, SAP, IBM and EA, and are all part of an ecosystem of tech here in the west.” he added.

“Galway is well known as a great city to live in, has two excellent colleges, high-tech companies of all sizes with fantastic talent,” says John Brosnan of Netfort Technologies. “The objective of this group is to help develop and encourage the entrepreneurial culture in Galway. We want to build a community and organise regular events where people can learn from and help each other.”

“To develop an entrepreneurial culture within Galway, especially amongst tech start-ups, it is essential that we expose what has been achieved already, and then build on it and learn from each other,” says Michael FitzGerald of OnePageCRM. “Startup Galway is the first step towards unifying that local spirit for global gain, showcasing Galway to the world as a great place to start and grow a tech business.”

Registration is free for this and future events at www.startupgalway.org

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