How do young innovative companies benefit from Seedcorn?

Speaking about the competition, Connor Sweeney, InterTradeIreland, said: ‘With a cash prize fund of €280,000 up for grabs, Seedcorn provides a great opportunity for early stage and new start companies in Ireland.  But Seedcorn is more than just a competition – entrants can get invaluable hints, tips and advice from our experts, as well as investors and other entrepreneurs, on how to improve their business plan and investment pitch and demonstrate to investors that their business is worth investing in.

EVB Sports from Co. Louth - previous winner 

EVB Sports from Co. Louth were regional winners in last year’s competition and MD Yvonne Brady had this to say about the competition; ‘Overall the Seedcorn competition was extremely beneficial to us, in particular it gave the investors we were in talks with the confidence to continue to work with us. Through the competition we were given support and advise to create an investor ready business plan that we are implementing in the company - a document that we are using as an operational tool as opposed to a document to remain in the drawer. We used the €20,000 cash prize fund for stock and it gave us the confidence to hire an extra member of staff. In addition the tools and support we received in preparing for seedcorn played no small part in our application for Cartier Womens Initiative Awards of which we came runners up for Europe’.

Free Seedcorn Workshops

Over the coming weeks, InterTradeIreland will host a series of free workshops designed to guide those considering entering this year’s competition, including providing advice on preparation of video clips, presentation slide decks and business plans. More information on the workshops can be found on the InterTradeIreland website.

Register now!

For more information and to register please visit www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn and businesses are strongly encouraged to submit an entry. Deadline for submissions is 29 May 2015.