Unilever to double down on Irish start-up programme

Unilever, which this year unveiled a new initiative to collaborate with Irish tech entrepreneurs working across the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space, has been so impressed with the talent it has uncovered here that it is to double the number of programmes it runs locally.

The company's start-up collaboration platform Unilever Foundry announced a collaboration with Dublin start-up hub Dogpatch Labs in July to enable Irish firms to explore business ideas with the Dutch-British group, whose brands include Hellmann's, Knorr, Marmite, Surf and Dove.

The move came on foot of a rise in hotly-tipped tech companies operating in the FMCG space, including the on-demand cleaning service app Laundrie, the shopping app Pointy and BuyMie, a same-day grocery delivery firm.

Unilever, which has more than 400 brands that are used by over two billion people daily, said it will double down on initiatives in an attempt to scale collaboration opportunities through the initiative.

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"Having Unilever Foundry in Ireland represents an ideal test bed for the wider organisation. We are blown away by the vast wealth of high performing start-ups in Ireland. We believe there are real and tangible opportunities to scale some of this creativity into the global organisation' said Dan Ryan of Unilver.

Originally launched in London in 2014, the Unilever Foundry also has a presence in Singapore, New York, India, Brazil and China.