Five NI tech firms win Tech Nation's Rising Stars 3.0 competition

Local tech companies Budibase, Elemental, ESTHER, Selazar, and SureCert have been selected to represent Northern Ireland in Tech Nation's Rising Stars 3.0 competition.

Tech Nation has announced the five Northern Ireland regional winners of its Rising Stars 3.0 competition. Over 50 early-stage tech companies applied to the competition, which aims to showcase the best companies in the country and provide practical support to stand-out businesses as they grow.

The five winners from Northern Ireland will go on to compete in the UK-wide awards in February next year. The winners selected by a panel of industry experts are:

• Budibase: Helps businesses build custom software in minutes without coding, using its open source no-code platform.
• Elemental: A tech-for-good company that uses a digital platform to help get individuals, families and their carers to better connect into community-based programmes and services that can improve their lives.
• ESTHER: A corporate giving platform that simplies and automates charitable donations from companies and matches companies to charities based on goals and locality.
• Selazar: Automates retailers' eCommerce operations through an end-to-end digital fulfilment platform to automate stock management, deliveries, and returns.
• SureCert: A digital background checking platform that lets recruiters quickly confirm that job candidates aren't lying on their applications and to check for anything in their backgrounds that would stop them from working in regulated sectors.

These five companies will get support from Tech Nation to help them meet investors, influencers, and corporate contacts who can help bring their businesses to the next level. They'll also get pitch training and will have their profile raised significantly by being selected for the programme.

Gary Davidson, Tech Nation's Entrepreneur Engagement Manager for Northern Ireland said: "Living in a strange 2020, it’s fantastic our Rising Stars competition will showcase to the world some of our amazing Northern Irish founders. I can’t wait to see our five regional winners represent Northern Ireland this year; Elemental Software, Budibase, SureCert, Esther & Selazar."

Source: Written based on press release