A new programme has been launched to help aspiring entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds to create digital startup companies.
Dogpatch Labs has partnered with Portershed in Galway, RDI Hub in Kerry and Republic of Work in Cork, to offer a new accelerator programme called "Founders".
Organisers are looking for more than 40 people with high entrepreneurial potential to take part in a three-month initial programme.
They will be paid a monthly stipend, with the opportunity to pitch for €100,000 equity investment and an additional three-month follow-on acceleration programme.
Participants will benefit from mentorship from founders such as Bobby Healy, founder and CEO of drone delivery company Manna; entrepreneur and broadcaster, Áine Kerr who is co-founder of Kinzen, and Stephen Kinsella, director of the Immersive Software Engineering programme at the University of Limerick.
Organisers say the programme will invest in people rather than startup ideas and will seek to form teams of diverse talent, adding that the scheme may benefit workers who recently lost their jobs in the tech sector.
"We're investing first in talent more than just the business ideas which come later," said Dogpatch Labs CEO Patrick Walsh.
"We're hyper-focused on bringing together a diverse group of individuals with a wide range of skills and backgrounds to work together on ideas that can become truly global businesses," Mr Walsh added.
