Enterprise Ireland is the Government agency responsible for the development of Irish enterprises in world markets. It helps Irish businesses to start, compete, scale, connect and win export sales through its international network of in-market experts.
That support extends to women founders on their journey into global markets, supporting them with the funding, expert advice and global network access that can help them to grow and scale at speed.
It supports them at every step, from early-stage funding to follow-on investment, helping them to access the capital they need to enter and succeed in markets around the world.
It’s something Aisling Browne, co-founder and chief executive of ad-tech solution Glitch, has discovered first hand.
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Intelligent advertising
Glitch is an artificial intelligence (AI) growth engine for businesses that want to acquire customers through online advertising.
What makes it so compelling is that it focuses on outcomes, not just impressions.
For businesses, it becomes their in-house AI marketing partner, creating, managing and improving paid campaigns, while generating the sales intelligence their teams need to close more deals.
Browne set up the business in 2023 with co-founder and chief technology officer Kingsley Kelly. A former engineering lead at Google Ads, Kelly joined with Browne in seeing the need for an AI marketer that could undertake strategy, implementation and optimisation on a continually improving basis, helping companies set up effective campaigns in seconds.
As an AI-driven business-to-business (B2B) ad optimisation tool, Glitch’s ability to hyper target allows it to cut through clutter online.
Its use means that while fewer people see your ads, the right people act on them. The result is less wasted budgets, higher quality leads, and conversions that actually drive revenue.
Browne and Kelly’s business, which employs five people full time and three more on a contract basis, is currently in beta mode and used by a gated community of paying customers.
Entrepreneurial journey
Before founding Glitch, Browne worked in a number of start-ups, both in Ireland and the UK, including a senior role at Irish fintech firm Wayflyer, just as it raised series A investment. She was part of the team that helped Wayflyer achieve “unicorn” status, valued at over US$1 billion.
When she decided to embark on an entrepreneurial journey of her own, Enterprise Ireland was one of her first ports of call.
She signed up for a founders’ programme run by Dogpatch Labs, where she met her co-founder Kelly.
They then spotted a gap for a solution that would help small and medium-sized enterprises better manage their online advertising.
“We’re going after people who are spending anywhere from a couple of grand to €300,000 a month on digital advertising,” she explains.
It was through Dogpatch that she was introduced to Enterprise Ireland.
“The Enterprise Ireland client advisor I was given was just amazing and spent loads of time with me while I was starting the business to ensure I was getting the right supports, because there are so many available,” says Browne.
That included supporting her through a successful €750,000 pre-seed investment round, which she closed just before giving birth to her first baby, a son, in August of last year.
“Initially I was raising from angel investors only, but I ended up taking HPSU (High Potential Start-Up) funding from Enterprise Ireland because it was offering to provide matched funding, which was amazing,” she says.
“Over the past year, I’ve received other supports too, such as innovation vouchers and feasibility study grants, all of which have helped the business to achieve so much more than we would have been able to – and more quickly – without it.”
The right support at the right time
Enterprise Ireland has a range of targeted funding to help women founders scale their businesses and lead with confidence.
In 2024, 29 per cent of the start-ups supported by Enterprise Ireland had a woman in the founding team, helping Ireland to become second in Europe for investment in women-led start-ups.
Enterprise Ireland offers a comprehensive suite of services for start-ups and has built up an inclusive business ecosystem where women entrepreneurs can thrive and make their mark on the global stage.
For example, the HPSU Feasibility Study Grant provides up to €30,000 to help you test how feasible your business strategy is, identifying risks and understanding the resources you need to begin scaling.
Its Pre-seed Start Fund, worth up to €100,000 in convertible loan notes, is designed to help early-stage companies reach the key technical and commercial milestones required to attract future seed funding. Recipients only have to match this funding to the tune of 10 per cent, putting in just €10,000 themselves. This financial support also comes with expert mentoring.
Enterprise Ireland’s Innovative HPSU Fund accelerates your international business plan with a co-funded equity investment of up to €1.2 million, as well as an array of non-financial supports such as a founders’ forum, skills training and workshops.
Other initiatives include its nationwide New Frontiers programme which is aimed at ambitious start-up founders with an innovative business idea that has the potential to scale and provide employment, and NextWave, a new national women founders accelerator programme delivered by the Irish BICs for female entrepreneurs seeking pre-seed and seed investment.
Enterprise Ireland also supports Going for Growth and Starting Strong, programmes which provide peer-to-peer growth-focused assistance to help ambitious women entrepreneurs at an early stage in the development of their business.
Growing apace
Right now, Browne is closing out a €2 million seed fund round for Glitch, in which Enterprise Ireland is once more investing, alongside a group of seasoned Irish and US investors that specialise in backing early-stage businesses.
Enterprise Ireland’s remit to support global ambition makes it a good fit for Glitch, which is already winning customers overseas.
What’s more, having a State-backed investor such as Enterprise Ireland on your cap table, or investor list, is a huge boon to a business starting out, as it’s a sign of credibility.
Just as valuable for Glitch, Enterprise Ireland backing also comes with access to an valuable network of influential people, including expert mentors and investors.
Having come from a family of entrepreneurs, with both a sister and a mother who run their own businesses, being a founder was always on Browne’s radar.
Indeed, she adds, it never even dawned on her to consider her gender, right up until she began raising her seed round, when she realised just how few women secure venture capital globally.
“I’ve always worked in male-dominated environments and always felt equal,” she explains. “It was only this time when I went out and talked to investors, and looked at a lot of their portfolio companies, that I started to notice the difference between the amounts going to women and men.
“But the people I want to bring to this business – and I call them partners rather than investors – don’t look at my gender. They just see me as a capable person. And they are the only kind of investor I want to raise money from.”
Find out how Enterprise Ireland can help support your business’s ambition
