Kilkenny company crowned ‘Best Start-Up’
An innovative Kilkenny enterprise has been crowned ‘Best New Start’ company at the Connacht & Leinster regional final of the 2021 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition.
Mentor Her fought off tough competition having delivered an investment pitch via video conference in front of an expert judging panel.
Seedcorn is the island’s biggest business competition for innovative new start and early stage businesses in any sector. The winners from each of the four regions will go onto compete in the all-island final later in the month where the overall ‘Best New Start’ and ‘Best Early Stage’ companies will be announced winning €50,000 each, and ultimately the ‘Overall Winner’ will pocket €100,000 to contribute to their business growth
Established in June 2020 by Katie Doyle, Mentor Her is a woman-to-woman mentoring service matching established Mentors and ambitious Mentees in corporate and entrepreneurial spheres.
Commenting on their win, Mentor Her founder Katie Doyle said: “We’re thrilled to win the ‘Best New Start’ company in the Connacht & Leinster final and progress to the next round. When lockdown happened in March 2020, many women decided to re-evaluate their lifestyles and professional careers, they needed guidance on what they should do next which is where I got the idea for Mentor Her. The Seedcorn competition has given us the opportunity to focus on the next step in our business journey, getting investment. So far, it has been an excellent exercise in understanding more about our company from an outsider’s point of view.”
Since the competition’s inception in 2003, more than 3,100 companies have been through the programme and finalists have raised in excess of €276m in equity funding, emphasising Seedcorn’s position as the premier competition for high growth start-up companies on the island.
