Belfast-based firm Enginius has been accepted to take part in Techstars Boston, making it one of only three Northern Ireland companies to ever have been accepted onto a US Techstars Accelerator programme.
With headquarters in both the Ormeau Baths co-working space and Austin, Texas, Enginius has been chosen as one of 10 worldwide companies to be part of this year’s Techstars Boston cohort.
Enginius is bringing the sale of heavy machinery online for the first time, helping dealers and manufacturers gain clarity on a previously opaque market.
The firm joins online streetwear and “dope kicks” business Another Lane in the programme’s Marketplaces category.
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With over a decade in the books, Techstars Boston focuses on the most promising start-ups that cover a range of Boston’s world class industry themes, including healthcare, enterprise software and geospatial imaging.
For the first time in five years, the programme is holding two classes in the same year due to what its organisers said is a “surge of entrepreneurship in New England, and all over the world, amidst Covid.”
Enginius joins fellow NI businesses BrewBot and Hurree - which were previously accepted onto the Techstars Austin and Techstars London programmes – as the third local company to be recognised by the US start-up accelerator.
Founder of Enginius, Ciaran Gillen said: “Being accepted onto Techstars Boston is a huge validation for our vision to transform the construction machinery space.
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“Starting a company can be a lonely place, so spending almost 18 months working on an idea and constantly testing and executing – it’s great to have a global powerhouse such as Techstars to agree that we are on to something.”
Ciaran continued to tell Sync NI of the “intense application process” he had to go through to be accepted onto the initiative.
“It is a consultative process over many months rather than an interview process. They take their time to get to know the founders and the business.
“Clement Cazalot (Boston MD Techstars) himself spends over 10 hours digging in and challenging you over your assumptions. Then you have deep due diligence with Techstars alumni who have industry knowledge and finally a selection committee with 15-20 veterans.
“It’s safe to say they are thorough. I was, however, confident in my abilities throughout the process and always had a belief that I had found the right course, even though they typically have less than 1% acceptance rate.”
Enginius will continue to be based in Belfast, but also with a Boston office that will be the business’ US hub for geographic expansion.
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