CitySwifter and Contego Sports take home prizes from 2018 National Awards

Two Galway start-ups were among the prize winners at this year’s National Startup Awards, powered by Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.

CitySwifter won the bronze award in the Emerge-Tech Startup category and Contego Sports won the silver award in the Product and Manufacturing Startup category. The Awards took place last Thursday at the Mansion House in Dublin.

CitySwifter is an early stage company who have developed a business intelligence platform focused on providing the technology component to radically transform and disrupt how modern urban bus networks are conceived and delivered through the use of data-driven, real-time, dynamic and predictive analytics.

Contego has used an evidence-based approach to develop and commercialise the N-Pro sports head guard, which has been scientifically proven to significantly reduce the G-Force impact transferred to a player’s head, a major cause of sports induced brain injuries in contact sports.

Marc Ganly, a former software developer based in Oranmore, set up Contego Sports in 2014 with his wife Sandra, who has a PhD in biomedical engineering and previously worked in developing medical devices.

The competition recognises innovative, successful and aspirational Irish start-up 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 Startup Awards are run by Startups.ie, in partnership with Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, and are open to sole traders, partnerships and companies in business for five years or less with up to 30 employees.