Close to 700 participants gathered at the Aviva Stadium today for Enterprise Ireland's Start-Up Day.
The annual event is designed to provide a platform for entrepreneurs and start-ups to present their business ideas to investors and industry leaders.
Last year, Enterprise Ireland invested €32.9m to support 198 companies, with 90 of those being high potential startups - meaning those servicing international markets, "truly disruptive", headquartered in Ireland and capable of achieving €1m in annual sales.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Enterprise Ireland Executive Director Kevin Sherry said the startups gathered at the Aviva Stadium "could potentially be the future Irish multinational companies".
He added that last year was a record day for start-up support by Enterprise Ireland, with more female-led businesses and companies stemming from research.
More than half of those companies have artificial intelligence as a central part of their business.
It has been described as an opportunity by the sector, though with everyone focused on the technology standing out could be more difficult for businesses.
"Everyone is trying to promote their business through AI. So, there's a lot of AI slop out there," co-founder and CEO of Glitch Aisling Browne told RTÉ News.
Glitch helps SMEs and larger companies to use their online advertising budgets efficiently through AI-automation to "take that burden away from the marketing team who don't necessarily have the technical acumen" for that.
"We actually are talking to people, we're on the phone to people, to make sure that we're reaching out to businesses who actually need our help," she explained.
Another startup supported by Enterprise Ireland is Hexis - a Dublin-based nutrition technology company that delivers personalised, AI-driven nutrition plans to athletes and coaches.
It was founded by physical performance experts Dr David Dunne and Dr Sam Impey.
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"We'll start to understand the type, the intensity, the duration of their activities, and then we'll predictively personalise how each athlete should be fueling before, during, and after their training," Dr Dunne explained.
He said that Hexis is "very fortunate to work with a wide range of professional sports organisations", including the Premier League.
"Probably our DNA has stemmed from professional cycling, where at this year's Tour de France, we'll be supporting just over 40% of the whole race."
Hexis’ co-founder described launching a startup as "the best generalised learning experience that anyone could have".
"What was hard maybe a year ago might seem quite easy now, so the goalposts shift," he said.
For people considering launching a startup, Dr Dunne said sustaining high intensity would be key.
"Going in with the mindset that you can do that will probably be the best outcome," he added.
