A letter from Tom McCarthyPatch Founder and Chairperson In 2025, Patch runs our seventh summer accelerator. You may remember our first programme in 2019, which was very much an experiment – we put 12 extraordinary young people in the same room and asked them to build something cool. We had a lot to learn, but we were absolutely confident that gathering Ireland’s most talented youth and supporting them as best we could would lead to something extraordinary. Where are we now? As of today, we have over 200 alumni. Some are waiting on Leaving Cert results and others have…
From life as a train driver operating out of Heuston Station, to pitching new innovative solutions for sustainable transport to senior leadership, Eoin Kearns stepped out of the day-to-day role when he was selected to join Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail’s innovation programme Future Track, in partnership with Dogpatch Labs. Stepping out of the carriage (and the comfort zone), and stepping into an entrepreneurial environment, Eoin shared his experience, “The mentorship and advice from champions has been invaluable.” His fellow 21 colleagues innovating in Future Track echoed this sentiment, noting that being immersed in Dogpatch Labs “feels like you’re in…
Close your eyes, and think about how you got yourself ready this morning for the day ahead, and think “what products did I use?“. Did you brush your teeth, have a shower, or wash your face? Now, imagine if you had no access to any of these products… How would you feel? This holiday season, Dogpatch Labs is partnering with startup Hygiene Hub to support its mission to combat hygiene poverty through its “Spread Kindness” campaign. Founded by three impact-driven women in 2019, Hygiene Hub works with diverse communities all over Ireland, from individuals to dual-income families,…
Want to get the down-low on what the Dogpatch Startup Community has been up to? This is your go-to weekly checkpoint. In this week’s blog: the Irish-Egyptian founder behind compliance startup Protostars which just raised €300K, Inspeq AI latest partnership with world-leading IT firm HCLTech, Gaingels VC unveils Top 100 LGBTQIA+ Founders, and the picture-perfect partnership: Olus Education x Canva. Keep reading… Meet Irish-Egyptian founder behind compliance startup Protostars Driven by an innate need to make a positive social impact, founder Kim McKayed set up compliance startup Protostars with co-founder Mohamed Fayez in 2023, and is scaling it…
We’ve all got our part to play in Ireland’s transition to net zero, and at Dogpatch Labs we are working with our partner ESB to facilitate this through open innovation – starting with entrepreneurs inside the organisation – via the X_Potential incubator programme, as part of a five-year sustainability innovation partnership announced in 2021. ESB’s Chief Exec Paddy Hayes joined us in Dogpatch this October, to share insights with each team and deliver an inspiring address to the 24 intrapreneurs. Hayes stressed the importance of blending diverse skill sets to drive innovation and urged participants to challenge themselves,…