Irish-founded fintech company Strikepay has scooped the top prize at this year’s National Startup awards.
The start-up, previously called Strike, was founded in 2020 to enable cash-free tipping without the need for a payment terminal or a new app on a customer’s phone.
Its founders, fintech entrepreneurs, Oli Cavanagh and Charles Dowd raised €625,000 in seed funding. The company intends to seek a further €6.5m in investment by the end of this year.
It has already begun acquiring and collaborating with other companies to bolster its product offering. In June it acquired UK payments rival Gratsi. Gratsi’s founder Jack Spargo joined the Strikepay team as vice-president of engineering.
Shortly before this Strikepay appointed former Just Eat exec Edel Kinane as its chief growth officer. It has teamed up with Camile Thai Kitchen to enable contactless tipping for food delivery drivers and in May it partnered with mobility company Bolt to bring its cashless tipping technology to taxis in Dublin.
Strikepay was one of several winners on the night at the awards ceremony which was live-streamed on 2 December. Other notable winners included health tech Stimul.ai, customer analysis tech tool Glimpse and sheep monitoring system Cotter Agritech. Strikepay also won Best Fintech Startup.
This year marked the tenth year of the awards. The event was sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, Microfinance Ireland, Sage Ireland, Cronin Accountants, Startup Accountant and McCann Fitzgerald.
Last year’s top award was given to drone delivery service Manna. The start-up has been working with companies such as Tesco, Just Eat and Camile Thai Kitchen to test its drones.
The full list of winners at the 2021 awards, in order of gold, silver and bronze, are:
Startup of the Year 2021
Strikepay
Early Stage Startup
Imvizar, CyberPie, The Fifth Dimension
Emerge Tech Startup
Xunison, Helgen Technologies Ltd, Livecosts.com
Fintech Startup
Strikepay, ID-Pal, ITUS Secure Technologies
Food and Drink Startup
fiid, SiSú, Thanks Plants
Social or Sustainable Startup
Altra, Peer, Fifty Shades Greener
Product and Manufacturing Startup
Cotter Agritech, Orca Board Ltd, Filter
E-commerce and Retail Startup
Final Bend Ltd, The Book Resort, Nufields
Tech Startup
Glimpse, LegitFit, Examfly Ltd.
Medtech Startup
Stumul.ai, SymPhysis Medical, Bonafi
Covid Pivot or Response Startup
Zoom Party c/c Find A Venue, KSH Group, Street School
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