The Irish Tech News Podcast

In my chat with Bill Liao, a Quantum Software Investor, Commercial & Social Entrepreneur from SOSV, we hear about his latest updates working with a new vegan StartUp and how he has now ventured into a new area of interest in the shape of Quantum Computing. SOSV  SOSV is a multi-stage venture capital investor. We run multiple world-class vertical startup development programs, and provide seed, venture and growth stage follow-on investment into superstar companies. Our unique full-stack model has delivered a net IRR over the last 20 years that puts us in the top 10% of all venture funds worldwide. https://sosv.com/portfolio/ Because Animals The majority of pet food is made using animal by-products and meat deemed unfit for human consumption. These otherwise unusable ingredients are sold for pet food, thus creating a significant profit arm for the most environmentally-destructive and inhumane commercial operation in the western world - the factory farming industry. Because Animals is committed to changing that status quo by creating ultra-nutritious and sustainable pet food. All of our products are human grade and 100% animal-free. We create our products using plants, algae and cultured meat, and combine these ingredients with nutrients sourced from bacteria and yeast to formulate nutritionally-complete foods for dogs and cats.

Jamil catches up with Ishan NegiIshan to learn more about Polygon Studios, Interoperability in the Metaverse, NFT Gaming with LK Rollups, and the Hermez Merger, with Ishan Negi at Polygon Studios Ishan NegiIshan is the Nft/gaming lead at Polygon, having joined the company in late Feb, 2021. Prior to this, Ishan has worked in M&A and in the social-tech space in India. He has completed his undergrad from SRCC, Delhi and his MBA from Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore.In his spare time, Ishan is passionate about football/soccer, music and landscape photography.. Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over fifty podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

Jamil catches up with successful entrepreneur Philipp Pieper to learn more about his move into the blockchain space. More about Philipp Pieper is a co-founder of Swarm Markets as well as the Swarm Network, an open-source project and DAO. Philipp also co-founded Proximic (acquired by comScore), Loop Media and Bitadel Crypto Trading. Philipp has been engaged in decentralized technologies and crypto-asset trading since 2015. He is also a startup investor and mentor at Singularity University and StartX. He is a member of the AIMA blockchain committee and Digital Currency Trade Association (DCTA). About Swarm Markets (website) Acceleration of digital transformation and historically low interest rates is pushing more capital onto the Blockchain. With increasing regulatory crackdowns on the crypto industry, companies in the sector are responding in different ways. Swarm Markets is skating to where the puck is heading by having authorisation from The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), from day one. It's licensed protocol will be the first of its kind to enable retail and institutional market participants to trade both crypto and digitised traditional financial instruments, like securities and commodities, in one place. We know institutions need to work with licensed platforms that remove counterparty risk and give access to legally digitised tokens in order to access DeFi. This is demonstrated by the 1,500+ people signed up to our liquidity provider programme who have pledged over $45 million in assets. In the future, there will not be a difference between TradFi and DeFi, rather everything integrates as 'Fi'. We know we will have achieved our goal to integrate traditional finance with the DeFi ecosystem, when people will access financial products and services and without even realising they're on the blockchain. Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over fifty podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

Can we make embedding finance into apps and customer journeys as simple as drag and drop? While no one would go to Ikea for the sole purpose of opening a bank account, they might need payment installment services during checkout. The new breed of technology platform players (BaaS) has made offering such services much more cost effective and less complex for big brands and retailers. Welcome to the new world where nearly every aspect of traditional banking can simply be an invisible feature of another industry’s customer experience.  In this episode of One Vision, Theo and Bradley chat with Shaul David, Head of Banking, Growth at Railsbank on the future of financial services, the role of technology, and the era of embedded finance.

In this podcast episode we chat with Greg Casey from Interxion about the most important trends for Irish data centres to watch in the near future, and some insights into how to effectively communicate what your business does well. Greg Casey  Greg has over 35 years of experience in the IT/Software sector and brings over 35 years of experience working with global organisations, managing strategic technical projects and teams across global networks, Construction, Electrical & Mechanical Services, Safety and Quality Management Systems among other areas. Greg lives in Glasnevin, Dublin with his wife and one of his daughters, while his other daughter lives in Vancouver. Greg’s hobbies include golf, cycling and aviation. Company Overview About Interxion, A Digital Realty Company Interxion, A Digital Realty Company, supports the world’s leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx™) solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity challenges. Digital Realty’s global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with 290 facilities in 47 metros across 24 countries on six continents. To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Jonathan DeCarteret – Bumper A serial entrepreneur, DeCarteret began his first venture at age 12 and has a passion for working at the edge of things, where new beginnings are found. This has translated into a potpourri of businesses with ‘first’, ‘fastest’ or ‘innovative’ often found in the description. He founded one of the first property crowdfunding platforms called Launchpad, an aggregating advertising buying business called Switch (which incidentally grew into the UK’s 60thfastest growing companies), helped launch a US charity into the UK which in turn became one of the top 20 charities in just 18 months. In short, DeCarteret has form. It is therefore unsurprising that he found his way into crypto and began to address one of the main issues of this space, notably volatility. “My business partner, Gareth Ward and I were attracted to crypto – and in particular DeFi. The beauty of programmable, frictionless, automated money was irresistible. We began to imagine all kinds of new financial instruments and wondered if this new bright ecosystem could solve some of the biggest problems in the financial world. “Previously, we worked on a crypto project called INDX. That was super innovative but we were too far ahead of the curve and then got hit by the regularity uncertainty." How did they solve it? Tune in to find out more Your host is Jillian Godsil, award winning journalist, broadcaster, and author. Her latest book can be found at https://persons-of-interest.io/

Cantec started out as a managed print service provider in 1994 and in 2020, Managing Director Greg Tuohy pivoted the business away from a slowly dwindling industry, by joining forces with Cork-based software provider SmartOffice. Founded by Paul Martin, SmartOffice helps businesses to streamline office processes, providing customised tech solutions across communications, information management and custom software development. During the pandemic , Cantec pivoted and joined forces with SmartOffices, who also pivoted because of Brexit. Ronan talks to Greg Tuohy and Paul Martin. Greg and Paul talk about what Contec does, joining forces with SmartOffice, how Contec pivoted, data protection, and GDPR. Greg and Paul also talk about ClearanceTec, helping UCC reduce their carbon emissions, and the future for the Contec group and SmartOffice. More about Cantec and SmartOffice: One of the main reasons for the success of Cantec is their willingness to pivot the business and adapt to changing times. For example, now a major focus for the business is to paradoxically reduce print requirements for clients. Cantec has helped UCC to reduce their carbon emissions by 36% and 25% decrease in waste by streamlining their print management processes. The merger with SmartOffice and new direction of the businesses was timely with the pandemic acting as a catalyst for businesses large and small to embrace office automation and remote working while also being a time that has seen businesses reliance on printing drop dramatically. One of SmartOffice's most popular products is their cloud-based Electronic Accounts Payable solution that reduces the cost of processing invoices by up to 80%. It offers businesses a flexible, cost-effective and secure solution, especially with remote working. With the huge increase in custom clearance declarations as a result of Brexit, the team at SmartOffice were keen to use the software engine of their Accounts Payable Automation solution to automate the customs clearance process for those trading between Ireland and the UK. Over the past year, SmartOffice has been developing 'ClearanceTec' allowing businesses to save up to 20 minutes per declaration.

Jamil catches up with Reggie to learn more about his interesting idea. RAGHAV REGGIE JERATHFOUNDER & CEORaghav or better known as Reggie is a serial entrepreneur, leadership and management professional and an accredited chartered manager from the Chartered Management Institute. Reggie has scaled startups from idea to growth stage with revenues reaching as high as 200,000 USD per month. He has lead teams varying from ten to two hundred people of a multidisciplinary background. His career also includes stints at MSL group and other large integrated agencies where he handled medium to large scale public, private and NGO accounts. He is a firm believer and practitioner of the Hersey-Blanchard situational model of leadership. Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over fifty podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

In this episode Jamil Hasan catches up with Romain Nouzareth for an interesting discussion around crypto mining, blockchain and trends to watch going forward. Romain Nouzareth Romain is a seasoned tech entrepreneur, Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CCU. He co-founded with his brother Mathieu Web Concept, one of the first web agencies in France, which was sold to Icon Medialab in 1999. Romain subsequently co-founded Boonty, a digital distribution platform that went on to become a world leader with offices in Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, and New York. Boonty later became IsCool Entertainment and was listed on the NYSE Euronext before being sold to Hachette of Lagardère Publishing in 2018. In 2009, Romain co-founded FreshPlanet Inc., a game studio that capitalized on the nascent mobile, social, and gaming market. In 2015, Romain founded eWRLD Corp., building products for messenger apps and for the Facebook Instant Games platform. Passionate about emerging technology, Romain’s interest in the blockchain started in 2013. In 2017, he co-founded www.CCU.ai Jamil Hasan is a crypto and blockchain focused podcast host at the Irish Tech News and spearheads our weekend content “The Crypto Corner” where he interviews founders, entrepreneurs and global thought leaders. Prior to his endeavors into the crypto-verse in July 2017, Jamil built an impressive career as a data, operations, financial, technology and business analyst and manager in Corporate America, including twelve years at American International Group and its related companies. Since entering the crypto universe, Jamil has been an advisor, entrepreneur, investor and author. His books “Blockchain Ethics: A Bridge to Abundance” (2018) and “Re-Generation X” (2020) not only discuss the benefits of blockchain technology, but also capture Jamil’s experience on how he has transitioned from being a loyal yet downsized former corporate employee to a self sovereign individual. With over fifty podcasts under his belt since he joined our team in February 2021, and with four years of experience both managing his own crypto portfolio and providing crypto guidance and counsel to select clients, Jamil continues to seek opportunities to help others navigate this still nascent industry. Jamil’s primary focus outside of podcast hosting is helping former corporate employees gain the necessary skills and vision to build their own crypto portfolios and create wealth for the long-term.

We chat with Karl Purdy, Founder and MD of Coffeeangel. Before launching Coffeeangel, Karl was an aspiring photojournalist. Returning to Belfast in 1995 (after 20 years in Canada) to cover the first IRA ceasefire, following an uncomfortable run-in with loyalist paramilitaries, Karl found himself opening Belfast (and Ireland’s) first specialty coffee shop in 1997. It was an unexpected and overnight success. Unbeknownst at the time, this little shop ultimately launched today’s Irish specialty coffee scene. Relocating to Dublin in 2000 and starting again from scratch, Karl opened a little, three-wheeled coffee cart on Howth’s East Pier in 2004. On its first day Coffeeangel served 150 coffees. Seventeen years later Coffeeangel now has five locations across Dublin city centre, a thriving ecommerce & wholesale business. Having served well over one million cups of delicious coffee, Karl and the team at Coffeeangel remain laser-focused on providing a world class product, efficiently and consistently with genuinely Irish customer service at the heart of it all.