Nova Leah wins Grand Prix Award at the 2018 National Startup Awards powered by Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland

Gavin Kelly, CEO Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland with Anita Finnegan, founder of Nova Leah along with Stephen Dillon, founder of Startups.ie and Joe Healy, HPSU Divisional Manager, Enterprise Ireland.

Friday, 18 May 2018: Nova Leah has picked up the Grand Prix Startup of the Year Award, scooping a €10,000 cash prize, at the National Startup Awards 2018 powered by Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. Croí Valve, who won in the Early Stage Startup category, received €5,000 to support the development of their business. The Awards took place on Thursday, 17 May at the Mansion House in Dublin.

Nova Leah, founded by Anita Finnegan, was also named overall winner in the Emerge-Tech category. A Dundalk-based company, Nova Leah has developed a cybersecurity risk analysis system which provides an automated solution for implementing and maintaining cybersecurity requirements across medical device products.

Croí Valve, which picked up the Early Stage Startup category award, is an early stage medical device company focused on developing a minimally invasive device for the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation.

The competition recognises innovative, successful and aspirational Irish startup companies who have launched their businesses in the last five years. This year, awards were presented to deserving winners across 13 categories including tech, retail, product and tourism with gold, silver and bronze winners being awarded in each category.

The gold award winners across the other categories were Croí Valve, Early Stage Startup; Nova Leah, Emerge-Tech Startup; ID Pal, Fintech Startup; Hexafly, Agritech Startup; Coindrum, Travel and Tourism Startup; Strong Roots, Food and Drink Startup; myAccessHub, Social / Sustainable Startup; Nasal Medical, Product and Manufacturing Startup; SalesOptimize, eCommerce Startup; Ronocco Style, Retail and Fashion Startup; iKydz, Tech Startup; Hooke Bio, Medtech Startup; AudiosourceRE Research Spinout / 3rd Level and Irish International Business Network, Startup Hero.

Gavin Kelly, CEO Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland, said “We are delighted to partner with the Startup Awards for the fifth year running. The awards provide a platform to promote young companies on a national stage. As the largest lender to the Irish economy we are committed to supporting new and emerging entrepreneurs as they grow and develop their business and we have been incredibly impressed by the high standard of entries that have come through this competition. On behalf of Bank of Ireland, I would like to congratulate all of our winners and runners up.”

Joe Healy, HPSU Divisional Manager, Enterprise Ireland, said “Enterprise Ireland supports Irish companies with global ambition to grow their businesses and to scale internationally, with a particular focus on innovative start-ups. Encouragement and mentorship are fundamental elements of our support system and for this reason, we are delighted to partner with the National Startup Awards. The Awards provide these companies with the foundation from which they can grow and thrive within the start-up ecosystem. It is always exciting for us to see the quality of start-up companies emerging across the country and the innovative ideas and products they are bringing to the fore, and I look forward to seeing what is ahead for this year’s winners and runners up.”

Commenting on the Awards, Stephen Dillon, Founder of Startups.ie, said “Once again we were amazed and inspired by the quality and passion of the Startups involved in this year’s awards. With the National Startup Awards we are proud to recognise and reward the very best of Irish startup businesses. A vibrant Startup eco system is essential to every economy and judging by the quality of this years competition the future for Irish Startups is very bright indeed. We hope that all of the participants enjoyed the experience and we look forward to watching their progress over the coming years. Well done to all our finalists and congratulations to this years winners. ”

For more information on the awards visit www.startupawards.ie or the Bank of Ireland Twitter account @BOIbusiness using the dedicated hastag #Startupawards.