TenderScout, the Irish online platform that helps companies procure government contracts, has secured an additional €1 million investment from private investors and angel funds.
The Dublin-based start-up has ambitous plans to expand the business in Europe and North America, and the investment will see the creation of 15 new jobs in technology, customer service, and sales and marketing roles over the next two years.
"Around 90 per cent of SMEs don't participate at all in public tendering because they lack the expertise to compete and decide it's too hard or time consuming and generally inaccessible to small business," founder Tony Corrigan said.
The Enterprise Ireland-backed firm gives SMEs the ability to participate in public tenders, regardless of their scale or tendering expertise, he said.
The company uses advanced algorithms to qualify tender opportunities for SMEs, giving information on the tender competitions they have the best opportunity of succeeding in, given their capabilities and the level of competition.
Enterprise Ireland’s Niall McEvoy said: “TenderScout is an excellent example of an indigenous company that has identified a need within the SME sector and addressed it effectively.”
The public procurement budget in Ireland alone is worth €9 billion per annum, and yet only 10 per cent of Irish SMEs compete for tenders in what is essentially the largest sales pipeline in the country.
