Irish energy company, ESB, has just announced the finalists for their Spark Of Genius start-up contest and, among the three contenders heading to Web Summit 2014‘s epic European Pitch contest, is an Irish 3D printing firm headed by the three O’Daly sisters, according to Independent.ie.
Begun by Emer, Kate, and Aoibheann O’Daly, Love & Robots (a rebranded version of their original FabAllThings website) is an online design community in which crowdsourced product designs are either manufactured and delivered to customers or downloaded and printed by customers themselves, or their local service bureaus. Every month, the site makes a design call for such items as home decor and jewelry, after which, designers submit their products and the community votes. The rest is 3D printing magic, with customers purchasing 3D prints of the products delivered physically or electronically and the winning designers earning royalties.
Alongside Love & Robots are the finalists TenderScout and Restored Hearing. The former is in the business of creating market intelligence for companies seeking public sector contracts across Europe. The latter is focused on reducing tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, using proprietary materials and processes. Together, all three beat out a shortlist of 30 Irish startups and hundreds more that were on the longlist, made up of services providing online fashion retail, reading recommendations, social games, and crowd funding. Up next, they face Dublin Web Summit’s Pitch competition, where they join 200 European start-ups, whittled down from a list of 2,200, to present their business ideas to hundreds of investors.
The winner of the Pitch contest will receive €25,000 and a fast-tracked advancement process through major US business executives, while the top two companies will be flown to Atlanta, Georgia, where they will meet with Coca-Cola executives to plan the business strategies of their start-ups. After that, time will only tell what happens to the firms, but the 2012 winner of the ESB Spark of Genius Award, SmartThings, went on to be acquired by Samsung for $155 million.
Even if they don’t beat out Europe’s other competing startups, the contestants will at least be able to say that they made it to the Pitch competition, which will see numerous important executives and celebrities in attendance. Over 20,000 people are expected to attend, where they will see such famous folks as founder of Tinder, Sean Rad, eBay co-founder and venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, as well as actor Eva Longoria and supermodel Lily Cole.
The Web Summit will take place this November, from the 4th to the 6th. To learn more about the event, visit the website here.
