| The IPBN is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland under the ESP Grant programme |
The applicants for the IPBN’s Business Success awards spanned a variety of sectors, but the one with the most applicants was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the tech sector. With remote working and digital nomad boom caused by COVID-19, this area in particular, proved to have seen more success than most over the last year, with the worldwide embrace of technology to help keep businesses running and connections thriving across the board. The IPBN member companies who were considered for the network’s third-annual Business Success award showed promise and growth from sustainability to job creation, and of course, the use of technological developments spearheaded by each business.
IPBN member company Craftable Software, for example, is a boutique software house that specializes in systems that require quality, reliability, and scalability within a cloud environment. In the company’s success story, Engineering manager Renato Oliveira noted that “User Experience, Product Management, and CyberSecurity are other subjects that the company takes pride in. Fintech, Healthtech, and Traveltech are areas where we believe we bring great value from the start, considering the company has grown 200% YoY, opened two new offices, and kept our values intact.” Renato hopes that Craftable Software will continue to grow while continuing to improve and enjoy the journey in the coming years, and insisted that “success is enjoying what you do, and that’s what Craftable Software is all about.”
Next, Pedro Henriques presented his IPBN member company Bridge IN and explained that he helps foreign companies build a presence in Portugal, focusing on IT companies and tech startups looking to build a tech hub. Pedro, the company’s CEO, went on to explain that “Bridge In excels at providing knowledge about how to operate in the market, including strategy for recruitment, payroll, taxes, and legal. We had a 50x growth in revenue in 2021, hitting over 600k€ in revenue, and are working with customers in 15 different countries.” Moreover, the business’s growth enabled them to become self-sufficient in terms of funding
Belinda Sintes, Marketing Manager at IPBN company Lazer Telecom next explained the company's tagline: “Built for speed.” Lazer is the Algarve’s fastest Fibre Internet network, currently covering Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo, and Almancil, extending to Santa Bárbara de Nexe, Alfeição, and Vale Telheiro, and westwards to Quarteira, Vilamoura, Olhos de Água, Boliqueime, Albufeira, and Sesmarias. Sintes said, “The Lazer network is always expanding, and services are continuously being rolled out into new areas. In terms of growth, Lazer’s EBITDA grew by +38% and they added 10 additional staff now with a total headcount of over 50. We also invested an additional €1M in CAPEX to expand the network into new areas and is now the fastest internet provider in Portugal delivering a minimum speed of 250mbps to clients on entry-level packages.”
Next up was Otonomee, a company which, according to Founder Hilary O’Shea, is an outsourcing company with people in Ireland, Portugal and the UK that provides growth solutions (customer management, technical support and sales) for scaling tech companies. She said, “Otonomee was founded in June 2020, to provide a different model in the outsourcing industry, having scaled some of the most iconic Tech brands in the world. The employee experience was key to our purpose, causing us to create a company that people would be proud to work for…Our standout success in 2021 was establishing Otonomee Portugal and being joined by our Portuguese colleagues. We have onboarded many new scaling clients in 20021 and we now provide our service and support to them.” With Otonomee Portugal, the company can now offer multilingual skills from Portugal, across a myriad of languages, while investing in the culture and ongoing employee experience of all their employees.
The last nominee of the tech sector was Philippe Brodeur, CEO and Founder of IPBN member company Overcast HQ. The company prides itself on having reimagined how video is managed in the workplace – making it possible for all stakeholders (not just engineers and editors) to work with video content. Philip noted, “The benefits [of Overcast’s services] are significant. We are both a stand-alone SaaS solution AND a series of orchestrated micro-services that are integrated directly into existing technologies. Think Microsoft Office — for video…Remote working due to Covid accelerated the use of Overcast by clients in 2020 by 1300%. In 2021, this translated into increased awareness in the marketplace and revenue growth of more than 500%.” Overcast HQ signed their first five-year contract significantly impacting the company’s long-term growth, especially in the areas of Media & Entertainment, Enterprise Brands, Policing & Security.
The IPBN is proud of all our member companies in this sector and is excited to highlight the success stories of the above applicants for the IPBN Business Award this year. If you'd like to read about the winner of IPBN Business Award, TireCheck, please click here. To read about the healthcare, tourism & events, and sustainability sectors from which the nominees for the award came, click the individual links above.
| The IPBN is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland under the ESP Grant programme |
