Tech Nation reveals regional winners of Rising Stars contest

Tech Nation has announced the five Northern Ireland regional winners of its Rising Stars 3.0 competition.

In its third year, Rising Stars 3.0 is the UK’s only national competition for innovative, early-stage tech companies, designed to showcase the best in the country and to help companies on their growth journey.

The five regional winners were: Budibase (Data Analytics & Business Intelligence), Belfast; Selazar (E-commerce & Marketplace), Belfast; SureCert (HRtech), Belfast; Elemental, (Healthtech & Biotech & Life Sciences), Londonderry; and ESTHER (Fintech), Newry.

The winners were selected by a panel of industry experts and are regarded as tech leaders within their respective regions.

Esme Caulfield, Competitions Lead, Tech Nation, said: “Everyone knows that 2020 is a challenging year.

“We’re honoured that so many companies took the time to apply for Rising Stars 3.0 andare truly excited about the calibre of our Regional Winners.

“It’s great to see companies from every imaginable sector in the competition, and from every corner of the UK - from Aberdeen to Falmouth and everywhere in between.

“The 55 Rising Stars Regional Winners are companies that are proving their resilience and adaptability, building products that will support businesses and customers both now, and into the future.

“They are all deserving of recognition - and here at Tech Nation, we’re thrilled to celebrate and showcase them.”

Gary Davidson, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Northern Ireland, Tech Nation, said: “Living in a strange 2020, it’s fantastic our Rising Stars competition will showcase to the world some of our amazing Northern Irish founders.

“I can’t wait to see our five regional winners represent Northern Ireland this year; Elemental Software, Budibase, SureCert, Esther and Selazar.”

Mike Shanks, CEO of Budibase, said: “At Budibase, we are empowering organisations to build web applications faster than ever. We’re really looking forward to getting some great exposure for Budibase, as we near our V1 launch and raise additional funding to accelerate our rise.”

Jack Williams, CEO, Selazar, said the tech-first company is “is ecstatic to be representing Northern Ireland for Rising Stars”.

“We are proud of what our company has achieved in such a short space of time and hungry for more. We’re excited to drive forward our platform development and plans for expansion, with our next investment round opening in Q1, 2021”

Ian Savage, founder of the digitised background checking platform, SureCert, said Northern Ireland is “full of really impressive startups and scaleups”.

“This is great timing as we have massively enhanced our product during the Covid lockdown, won an Innovator of the Year award and will be onboarding our first major customer in early 2021,” he added.

Jennifer Neff, CEO and co-founder of award-winning tech-for-good Londonderry company Elemental, said its focus was on the “communities we were set up to serve.”

“We are proud to be recognised as one of Northern Ireland’s Rising Stars. We’re scaling our business, innovating and growing every day. Our markets have increased during Covid and so has the size of our team.”

Carol Rossborough set up Newry-based ESTHER, a corporate giving platform which allows businesses to engage across a range of cause-based charity programmes.

She said: “2020 has been a year of traction and clarity for team ESTHER - it’s the perfect time for us to showcase our platform to the wider UK market through Tech Nation’s Rising Stars programme.”

The Ulster companies will now compete nationally for the chance to be named as one of Tech Nation’s 10 Rising Stars 3.0. The winners are announced in February.

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