BY DECLAN VARLEY
Galway-based Nua Surgical has been named as one of the the eight shortlisted companies that will go forward and compete in the Ireland final of the KPMG Global Tech Innovator competition 2023. The competition, now in its third year, provides a platform to showcase the best of Ireland’s emerging tech innovators across a range of sectors.
The finalists were selected after evaluating a high volume of exceptional entries and will pitch their innovations and growth ambitions to an esteemed panel of judges, comprising Brian Caulfield, VC and angel investor; Sharon McCooey, Head of LinkedIn Ireland; Alan Coleman, Co-Founder and CEO of Sweepr; Niall McEvoy, Venture Partner at Elkstone; and Anna Scally, Head of Tech & Media at KPMG Ireland.
Nua Surgical has developed a patented surgical device to reduce maternal complications following caesarean delivery, the most common major surgery in the world.
Their goal is to make C-Sections a safer procedure and reduce preventable maternal deaths and post-operative complications.
Nua Surgical’s novel solution has received global recognition and aims to disrupt a market which has seen little innovation in decades.
It was founded by CEO Barry McCann, CTO Padraig Maher and COO Marie Therese Maher.
The company is no stranger to awards having picked up an impressive array of prizes recognising their strength and innovation.
In October 2018, its founding team were awarded an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund to bring the project from early stage concept to commercialisation.
In January 2019, NUA Surgical was chosen as one of seven start-ups between Ireland and the U.S. to participate in the Blackstone-backed accelerator ‘LaunchPad Lift’ powered by Techstars.
In November 2019, its CEO was named ‘Best Senior Entrepreneur’ at the EIT Health Alumni Needs-Led Innovation Showcase in Lisbon, Portugal.
On June 2nd 2020, NUA Surgical were one of 16 UK and Ireland Start-ups to be awarded €40,000 through the EIT Health Headstart Programme.
In July 2020, NUA Surgical were announced as one of 15 winners for the national HIHI Healthcare Innovation Call 2020.
In November 2020, the start-up was announced overall winner of the InterTrade Ireland Seedcorn ‘Investor Readiness’ Competition, securing €100,000 to help accelerate our innovation in women’s health.
In September 2021, NUA Surgical were announced winners of the Healthy Mom and Baby Innovation Competition 2.0, a global competition run by Parkview Health and MATTER (USA ).
The shortlisted companies, which are from Dublin, Belfast, Galway and Kildare, offer solutions in areas including medtech, cybersecurity and digital safety utilising technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI ), machine learning (ML ) and data analytics.
The Ireland final will be broadcast on social media and on the KPMG website throughout July and August and the winner will be announced in early September. The Global Tech Innovator Ireland winner will go on to compete against tech innovators from 23 countries and jurisdictions in the global final in November.
The other seven Ireland finalists for Global Tech Innovator 2023 are:
Nory
Dublin based Nory is an operating system built for the hospitality industry to help control their costs and perform consistently each day. Nory centralises core restaurant operations into one single app, from revenue analytics and forecasting to workforce management, HR and inventory management and procurement. Nory uses machine learning models to analyse business data in restaurants, recommending simple actions to help teams control costs consistently.
inclusio
Dublin based inclusio is a science-based, data-led diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI ) platform, combining technology, psychology and artificial intelligence to deliver evidence-based metrics on culture and DEI. inclusio’s mission is to support companies measure, track and analyse DEI, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and action required to achieve their organisational goals. The platform provides leaders with a cohesive scientific framework for reporting demands on ESG, Gender Pay Gap, Annual reports and regulatory compliance.
SocialVoice
Dublin based SocialVoice gives global brands an unrivalled advantage in the $350bn creator economy marketplace, by solving deep technologyproblems that competitors have failed to address.
Their patent backed IP is a “Google search meets AI” for video, bringing a game-changing, frame by frame, word by spoken-word analysis of influencer videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. The platform allows brands to identify and conduct background checks on influencers being recruited for social video campaigns, monitors brands’ influencers throughout campaigns to ensure compliance, and discovers and tracks everything being said about brands across social video platforms on a scale never before accomplished.
Ubloquity
Belfast based Ubloquity operationalises blockchain technology across global supply chains by optimising the accuracy and traceability of goods, blending best-in-class technology with cutting edge science to prove, authenticate, validate and ensure supply chain integrity. Ubloquity aims to create a single source of the truth and establish new levels of trust between producers, manufacturers, hauliers, retailers, government agencies and regulators.
Cilter
Dublin based Cilter develops embedded child-protection software for smartphones that detects and blocks harmful content. Cilter’s key differentiator is that unlike their competitors, it’s not an app, but instead is embedded in the operating system of devices. All messages, even encrypted, are compared against AI-driven databases for harm and it blocks all that fail the test, while alerting parents, helping children to be safer online.
Binarii Labs
Kildare based Binarii Labs create proprietary cyber security solutions, such as their lead solution, BinariiDMS, a unique document management system that focuses on protecting each file individually in an innovative and proprietary way. Binarii DMS promises business continuity and eliminates or materially mitigates disaster recovery in instances where access to the user’s cloud storage has been denied, is unavailable, or has been breached. It also provides absolute transparency through an independent, automated, un-editable (immutable ) blockchain record to prove provenance and to provide a date and time stamp independent proof of a document having been secured and/or shared.
Biologit
Dublin based Biologit specialises in active safety surveillance solutions for life sciences. Biologit is a comprehensive platform designed to monitor scientific literature for adverse events and new risks. Its flexible workflow, unified scientific database and unique AI productivity features deliver fast, inexpensive and fully traceable results for safety surveillance screening requirements.
Where to watch?
The Global Tech Innovator will be broadcast on KPMG Ireland’s LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram channels. Be sure to follow them along with the hashtags #TechInnovatorIreland and #GlobalTechInnovator to watch this year’s competition. For more information, visit www.kpmg.ie/GTI
