Every week we take a look at some of the most interesting B2B stories from the past week. On the agenda this week is the increasing mobility of Irish works, some notable funding announcements, and a cyberattack hits Japan's beer market hard.
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EA Sports - It’s in the Private Equity Game
If ever there was proof needed about the bona fides of the video game industry then it came this week with news of the purchase of gaming giant Electronic Arts - bought by a private equity consortium which includes Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners for $55bn. The acquisition could be the biggest leveraged buyout in history and reinforces Saudi Arabia’s position in this space - the country already has stakes in Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive, the video game developer and publisher behind the famed Grand Theft Auto series. Read more.
4 Early Stage Startups Shine at 2025 New Frontiers Event
The Enterprise Ireland-funded Phase 2 New frontiers program for early stage startups held their showcase event this week - during which four startups were recognized for their potential. Biscuit Factory Games, founded by Sega alum Daniel Bergin-Holly, received the Best Pitch Award. The company is focused on making small “snackable” games for PC. The One to Watch Award was won by Data Buckets - a big data platform-AI agent for mobile-first companies. Interestingly, the company is founded by Phuong Vu who previously co-founded BeeInstant which was acquired by IBM. The Most Likely to Scale Award was brought home by Datamnis, a data science and process engineering solutions company founded by Ming Zhao. Finally, the coveted Most Likely to Scale Award went to Earth Visio which is building a "Google Maps for underground utilities”. Fittingly, the company is founded by Google alum, Jo Cheng. Read more.
Galetech Group to Grow Their Team
Cavan-based renewable energy firm Galetech Group this week announced the creation of 65 new high value jobs. Founded in 2000 by Darren Sherry and Herman Busschots, the company is involved in project development, management, and related services in the renewable and sustainable housing sectors. The new roles will form part of a wider expansion strategy and foray into new markets in Africa, Australia, and the UK. The company look set to play an integral role in the global energy transition and CEO Sherry sees a major opportunity for the green economy to start adding value to the energy that is already produced here rather than exporting it. Read more.
Japan Facing Beer Shortage
And now for something completely different as news emerged this week that Japan was facing a beer shortage after a cyber attack halted operations at 30 of Asahi Group’s plants. While not the greatest humanitarian crisis we have seen, the situation does give us some food for thought. Firstly, Satya Nadella’s point that every company is now a software company seems to ring true. Secondly, while digitization has major efficiency benefits, it does leave companies with a single point of failure. And, lastly, cybersecurity is more important than ever, so we can expect to see even more rapid growth in that space. Read more.
Irish Biotech Aerska Announces $21m Funding Round
Aerska, a biotechnology company developing RNA medicines to treat, delay, and prevent diseases of the brain, this week emerged from stealth mode with the announcement of a $21m seed raise. The company leverages targeted delivery of RNA medicines to the brain and was co-founded by serial biotech entrepreneur Jack O’Meara, alongside David Hardwicke and leading RNA scientist Stu Milstein. O’Meara is hot off the heels of a hugely successful period with Ochre Bio which he founded before entering into a partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim valued at over $1 billion. The mission for Aerska - to alleviate the suffering of patients with neurological disease - is close to O’Meara’s heart. Read more.
AI’s Energy Consumption Problem
Such is the impact of ChatGPT and other AI tools on our lives that most forecasters are now predicting an AI-centric future where automation and AI agents rule the roost. On the one hand, it is logical when you consider the enormous sums being spent on AI by the world’s leading companies that ubiquitous AI is the future - but, there is one not so small elephant in the room, namely AI’s monstrous energy consumption. There are questions to consider around climate change, but also purely in terms of capacity with a forecast this week suggesting AI computing needs will require 55 gigawatt of new power capacity by the end of the decade. Read more.
Org Group Take a Minority Stake in HappyPath Labs
More good news this week for the Clonakilty-based HappyPath Labs with the announcement that the organisational engineering company, Org Group has taken a minority stake in the company. HappyPath Labs - who provide a contact centre as a Service solution - are starting to generate impressive momentum having already been recognized as Ireland’s Best Start-up earlier this year. The deal with Org Group - who employ 3,000 people across 13 countries - can only bode well for HappyPath Labs who will look to leverage the Org Group’s existing market presence to drive growth. Read more.
Mobility on the Rise in the Irish Jobs Market
The Microsoft Ireland Work Trend Index was released this week with some interesting results. The future of work is something we ponder regularly at MFS, and Microsoft’s research is showing that a record 38% of respondents changed roles this year. Unsurprisingly, AI adoption is up 27% year on year, while workplace happiness fell 13% to 65%. Read more.
MFS is a boutique B2B Marketing Agency based in Ireland with a track record of creating and executing revenue-generating campaigns at companies ranging from rapid growth startups to F500s. In our weekly newsletter Forward Reads we bring you our own take on the top stories of the week that was covering topics such as startup news, Irish success stories, AI, strategy, and whatever else catches our attention.