Web 2 Ireland

I met up with Mike Sigal from Guidewire Group this week at LeWeb in Paris – and he updated me on the new Innovate Europe event they are running.

In a nutshell Mike, Chris and their team are

- Running regional “Auditions” in Europe to meet and talk to startups [22nd Jan, Dublin]

- Selected startups are invited to the Innovate!Europe's Master Class [4-6 May 2009 in Zaragoza, Spain]

- Also participate in Innovate!Europe Trade Mission – that will visit Silicon Valley in June 2009

- One European startup will win an exclusive spot at Guidewire STUDIO, an in-residence business accelerator in the heart of Silicon Valley.

I would recommend all Web2Ireland companies to apply for Innovate!Europe

Some recent discussions around funding in Ireland

Conor O’Neill on The Last Word | Argolon

Joe Drumgoole covers venture capital in crisis

Silicon Republic mentions 500 million in VC capital raised for investing in tech firms

Walter just announced Pixenate on Demand.

Pixenate on Demand – enables you can subscribe to 3 Subscription packages and is ideal for startups and web services running in shared hosting environments.

Pixenate continues to offer affordable Image processing for web publishers.

Check out the Future Of Web Apps – Dublin 2009 website and our previous coverage on the event.

Yes – the title is correct. We had a blast the last time Ryan was in town [and i guess 200+ people turning up at that event impressed the folks at Carsonified]

Future of Web Apps comes to Dublin Friday March 6th 2009!
—————————————————————-

For the first time Future of Web Apps is coming to Dublin and
we’re bringing along some of the most talented and expert
speakers in the industry with us!

Expect a fabulous FOWA debut with a line up including:

Blaine Cooke (ex Twitter & Yahoo! Brickhouse)
David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals & Ruby on Rails)
Mike Butcher (TechCrunch UK)
Simon Willison (Co-creator of the Django web framework)
Ryan Carson (Carsonified)

The date for your diaries is Friday 6th March 2009.

The event will take place at Liberty Hall - in the heart of Dublin, and in true FOWA style will be followed by a few drinks at the after party!

Tickets go on sale very soon so keep watching this space!
[early bird prices will be around €115 - with normal rates €175.]

Hopefully this will be the first post on this meme…

Niall Smart contacted us in relation to his new startup – and he is seeking a technical co-founder to join the team.

Person Wanted
If you’re a talented developer, interested in working at the junction of digital music and cloud computing, and ready to play a key role in an early stage startup, then this is a fantastic opportunity:

* Are you technically adept? Our technology stack includes Ruby and AWS, but your track record is much more important than an exact skills portfolio.

* Do you understand the importance of the User Experience? This is a niche product for discerning consumers, and UX is a critical success factor. You’re ready to play the game of inches.

* Have you an entrepreneurial streak? The right person will be enthusiastic, motivated, innovative and strategic, and comfortable with a degree of risk and uncertainty. Essential traits – along with a sense of adventure and fun.

================

To learn more, contact Niall Smart (niall AT cloudsync.fm) – and include a brief bio with your email.

Update:
- Potential investment is currently under discussion with a small number of high calibre investors.
- Based on investment – willingness to re-locate to Silicon Valley for 3 months

Marie has the details on ChangingWorlds acquired for US$60m by Amdocs

ChangingWorlds is the global expert in the personalization of Mobile Internet data and the company has championed the need for the intelligent delivery of personalized content. Changingworlds was a spin-out from University College Dublin back in 1999.

Anton has details on tomorrow nights event Digital MoMo – and Microsoft Startup support

Its on Thursday 6th November from 6:30PM at The Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge * Dublin

Register here for event

Also check out blog post from Don Dodge at Microsoft @ Startup support

John Collins has an excellent piece on the Technology funding landscape in today’s Irish Times.

Still don’t know where all the Irish VC monies goes to – please help us by updating your company profile on Crunchbase.

The Irish Times also has an article on Business Expansion Schemes – and gives a mention to Loudervoice – we should see quite a few Irish technology companies availing of BES schemes this year.

Related to funding matter – Saul Klein presented at web2europe this week – an excellent presentation which you should check out.

Web Reservations International (WRI), owner of the Hostelworld.com site, made a pre-tax profit of €18.3 million last year, as almost 83 million people visited its network of websites to book hostel accommodation around the world.

The SBPost article also has details on

WRI has about 90 staff, with overseas bases in Shanghai and Sydney. As well as Mooney and the co-founders, its directors include chairman Fintan Drury, former Aer Lingus chief financial officer Brian Dunne and Mark Opzoomer, the former managing director of Yahoo! in Europe.

The 2007 accounts show the firm paid €35 million to Summit Partners for those shares. As part of that process, a total of €12.2 million was paid to trusts owned by Nolan, Kennedy and fellow director Paddy Holahan, and a further €1.5 million was paid to WRI directors and key management.