Dublin-based BonzaQuote has beaten thousands of start-ups to be selected for the prestigious Blackbox Connect accelerator programme in Silicon Valley, California.
The Irish start-up will begin the residential programme designed to immerse international start-up founders into Silicon Valley culture later this month.
It is the only Irish start-up among the 15 international companies taking part in the programme, which brings start-ups to Palo Alto to meet investors, develop relationships in Silicon Valley and launch into the wider US market.
BonzaQuote founder and chief executive Jack Drea will have a chance to meet investors including Scale Venture Partners and Google Ventures as part of the programme. Best quote Mr Drea's start-up creates an online community for DIY fans to select the best products and prices for their next home improvement project from leading retailers.
The online platform enables DIY enthusiasts and tradespeople to get the best quote available instantly from DIY and building supply retailers for all the tools and materials that they need for their project.
“We have already had great traction with some of Europe’s largest DIY and building supply companies and Blackbox will give us an excellent opportunity to gain exposure to the US market, which is where the world’s leading DIY retailers are based,” Mr Drea said. DIY materials He said the idea for the start-up came about as a result of having difficulty comparing prices for a DIY project.
“My wife and I got so frustrated trying to find the best prices for DIY materials. We were trying to do a large-scale DIY project on our home . . . the only way we could find out the prices of various products was to ring every retailer and wait for them to come back to us with a quote,” he said. “If you are going on a holiday, you can compare prices of flights or hotels using Skyscanner or hotels.com.
Mr Drea said the BonzaQuote platform would allow users to get advice on what products they needed and which retailer had the best price. “Tens of thousands of products are going to be on our site from paints to nails, drywall and timber. We will partner with the retailers to get all the information.”
Mr Drea said BonzaQuote was launching in Ireland this summer, in Britain during the final quarter of this year and in the US in 2016.
Founded by Fadi Bishara in 2010, Blackbox Connect aims to link foreign high-growth potential companies with the Silicon Valley network.
