Business Post Focus On32 December 20, 2020COMMERCIAL CONTENT

Deloitte Fast 50 A SPECIAL 4-PAGE REPORT

It’s one thing to qualify for the Fast 50, it’s quite another to win it in your first year – and yet that is just what Blackpool, Co Cork-based Ever-

seen has done.The company may have shot

out of nowhere as far as out-siders are concerned, but chief executive Alan O’Herlihy said the artificial intelligence (AI) company has been growing and producing unmatched re-turns for its customers over the last number of years.

“We’ve been working away in a very low-key way, hum-bled by our continued growth and always focused on deliv-ering,” he said.

Everseen’s exponential growth has seen it triumph on its first outing with the Fast 50 programme.

“We went for it, thinking it would be good to be in it, but we didn’t expect to win

it,” O’Herlihy said.The company develops a

proprietary ‘Visual AI’ plat-form that can rapidly build vision-based applications for checkout intelligence, supply chain intelligence and process automation.

One of its applications builds on self-checkout soft-ware for retailers.

Replacing the hated weigh-ing scales and their plaintive cries of “unexpected item in the bagging area” with an intelligent system, means customers are happier, staff are less frazzled and losses are cut.

“With traditional systems, they might stop customers up to 20 per cent of the time. We get that down to around 2 per cent,” O’Herlihy said.

However, the system does more than just identify items. It also makes intelligent de-cisions.

“We’re people-aware – though we’re non-invasive as we don’t do facial rec-ognition – and we’re prod-uct-aware, but we’re also action-aware and environ-ment-aware,” he said.

“Overwhelmingly, though, we’re process-aware, so if a process breaks down for any reason the system intervenes.”

The system allows for cus-tomers to self-correct, thus reducing the need for staff in-teraction. Staff can be called if the customer requires help, though, or is behaving sus-piciously.

“Retailers have asked us to allow customers who make a mistake to self-correct. If they can correct it and they do then we leave them alone. If they can’t, or don’t, then staff can be called and presented with an image of the item. This means a lot less, and appro-priate, intervention.”

This way, both mistakes and plain theft can be cut. As a result, retailers who might have accepted a relatively high shrinkage rate for up to six per cent can use Everseen’s sys-tem to get this to a significantly lower figure.

The business may have de-veloped under the radar but Everseen has major clients across both the US and the EU, and the company is working with seven of the top 10 Global Retailers.

Aside from being the Fast

50 Ireland overall winner, Everseen also snagged anoth-er gong: the Innovative New Technology Award, an award delivered in association with Google.

Naturally, given Everseen is this year’s winner, growth has been rapid. The business cur-rently has offices in Ireland, Romania, Serbia, India and the United States. It plans to open further offices in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions as it moves into new markets in 2021.

Indeed, Everseen achieved a growth rate of 2,879 per cent over the last four years.

Its position in next year’s awards will be interesting too, given the coronavirus pan-demic retailers have been looking for new and inno-vative ways not only to stay open but to ease the concerns of consumers.

“Self-checkout, in general, has been growing exponen-tially, and with Covid even more so,” O’Herlihy said.

Everseen’s technology

seems an ideal fit: with its reduced need for staff in-tervention over tradition-al self-checkouts, let alone manned checkouts, it certain-ly helps with social distancing. Even if, as we all hope, things return to normal in 2021, what is clear is that the retail land-scape will have changed rad-ically. Technologies such as AI might just mean that not all of the changes need be negative.

In continuous expansion mode, Everseen is hiring ag-gressively in Ireland, The US,

Romania, and Serbia.“We are on the hunt for

more tech ninjas, dreamers and doers.”

For O’Herlihy this, as with the award, is a vindication of a good idea well implemented.

“We will be a billion- US-dollar valuation company very soon,” O’Herlihy said.

“Certainly, with the traction we are achieving right now, and the huge addressable market, both in retail and be-yond, the future is very bright for Everseen,” he said.

‘Dreamers, tech ninjas and doers’ take top spot

Celebrating suc-cess is some-thing any busi-ness would be happy to do, but Deloitte’s Fast 50 Tech-

nology programme is unique in Irish awards ceremonies as it works based on a single cri-terion: revenue growth.

“We had more appli-cations this year than we ever had before,” David Sha-nahan, Deloitte partner and Fast 50 Ireland programme leader, said.

Although this year’s awards look at revenue from 2016 to 2019, and so growth under the pandemic and its attendant lockdown will not be revealed until 2021, this year’s results at least give some indication that the indigenous tech sector is resilient and ready for the challenge.

Cumulatively, the 2020 Fast 50 winners generated approximately €3.3 billion in total annual revenues and employed over 4,600 people in 2019. The average revenue of companies featured in the ranking was approximately €90 million, while the average growth rate of the companies over the last four years was over 400 per cent.

Compared with last year, there are 13 new companies in the ranking.

Naturally, this year’s cere-mony was held online.

Perhaps with Zoom fatigue in mind, Deloitte’s approach to the virtual ceremony is

to keep it short. “True to the Fast 50 name, we kept it under 50 minutes,” Shanahan said.

“It was something we gave a lot of thought to. Normally we’d have a big gala dinner, and we pushed the date back and back until we decided to go ahead and run it, albeit doing the ceremony in a dif-ferent way.”

It’s arguably a shame for the participants, though online events are something that we have all become accustomed to this year. In any case, online or not, the celebrations were far from muted. Leo Varad-kar, an Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, joined the virtual ceremony to congratulate the winners. He paid tribute to the Fast 50 compa-nies for their contributions to the econ-omy, the em-ployment they provide and the innovation and entrepreneurship they bring to what they do.

Winner Everseen, a Cork-based company, took the top spot in Deloitte’s 2020 Fast 50 Technology Awards on its very first outing in the pro-gramme. Founded in Cork in 2007, the company develops computer vision and artificial intelligence solutions for some of the world’s largest retailers. Everseen achieved a growth

rate of 2,879 per

cent over the last four years.“It gives a great boost to

companies to have this rec-ognition,” Shanahan said.

“For companies that have been severely impacted, it helps them remain positive. Others have been going gang-busters and they know that

next year will be really strong,” he said.

Dublin-based compa-ny Webio, another new entrant to the ranking,

achieved second spot with a growth rate of 2,794 per

cent. The company uses conversational automated intelligence to improve cus-tomer engagement; having broken into Europe this year, it plans to bring its platform to the US market by the end of 2020.

Now in its 21st year, with Shanahan at the helm for the last four, the Fast 50 has seen dramatic changes in the Irish tech landscape.

Software-as-a-service, for

example, has overtaken tradi-tional hardware and software, reflecting a wider change in how we consume technology.

There have been sectoral changes too.

“E-learning is important this year. A company like Code Institute, which came third last year, has featured high once again.

“Digitisation is another key feature this year. Flipdish has suddenly opened up the market for smaller takeaways. Throughout the pandemic it has been very useful. We will see technology like that com-ing to the fore next year,” said Shanahan.

Indeed, Flipdish is another

new entrant to the Fast 50 this year. Operating globally, it de-velops a digital ordering and marketing system to restau-rants, cafés and takeaways, achieving a growth rate of 1,960 per cent.

The relentless march of technology means that more changes can be expected and this year’s awards give a hint of things to come: artificial intelligence, for example.

“Everseen, this year’s winner, is a very interesting company, with a very inter-esting technology. Certainly I knew, being AI, that it would rank well, but its phenome-nal growth in a still-emerging area is impressive,” he said.

“We were also delighted this week to see last year’s winner, Electricity Exchange, who fea-ture again this year, announce their rebranding to VIOTAS along with a further 60 jobs that they plan to bring online to support their internation-al expansion. It’s fantastic to see these companies go from strength to strength.”

Shanahan said that the awards, both in general and because of this year’s winners, demonstrate how important the technology sector is to the nation.

“Technology certainly has become integral to the Irish company, but we’re evolv-ing to the point where every

company is becoming a tech company. It has become the centre of everything.”

Crucially, the sector is ex-port-focused and operates nationwide.

“Electricity Exchange is from Limerick and Everseen this year is from Cork. Elev-en are from Northern Ireland [and in total] ten counties are represented. Dublin is well-represented. of course, but there is a real mix. It’s not just Dublin-based,” he said.

One of the main issues Irish businesses face, Shanahan said, is funding. This drives them to look abroad, which is good news in terms of ex-porting, but it does point to a somewhat underdeveloped Irish investment landscape.

“A lot of them are probably looking to the States and to the UK, but they do often look lo-cally to get started. Enterprise Ireland does a great job, but we need to do more,” he said.

One option would be to in-centivise the development of angel investment and venture capital nationally.

“Tax has a role to play as part of that,” he said.

Nonetheless, the entire point of the Fast 50 is that the numbers don’t lie and Shanahan said that the com-panies involved and the econ-omy as a whole can take suc-cour from this: technology is a growing sector of the Irish economy.

The awards also demon-strate support from the mul-tinational sector: the Innova-tive New Technology Award, also won by Everseen, is de-veloped in association with Google, the Impact Award, won by SilverCloud Health, in association with Facebook, and the Women in Technology Advocate Award, won by Vic-ki Reynolds, chief technology officer of i3PT certification, is presented in in association with Vodafone.

“The main thing for me is the positivity. I think it is needed. It’s an indication that we’re all trying to move on and the tech industry shows how people have the wherewithal to do it,” said Shanahan.

The Deloitte 2020 Fast 50 Technology Awards, held in a special online ceremony on Wednesday, celebrate growth, and this year’s results point to a resilience that will drive Irish business forward, even in challenging times, writes Jason Walsh

Cork-based machine vision and artificial intelligence company Everseen jumped into the Fast 50 in the top spot. Supporting retail, next year can only get better for its technology platform

David Shanahan, partner, Deloitte, and programme leader, Fast 50 Ireland: ‘It gives companies a great boost, the recognition’

Ronan Murray, partner and head of financial advisory Munster, Deloitte, and Alan O’Herlihy, chief executive, Everseen, and overall winner, Deloitte Fast 50 Ireland John Allen

This year’s results give an indication that the

indigenous tech sector is resilient and ready

for challenge

Celebrating extraordinary growth that points to a very promising 2021

Business Post Focus On: Deloitte Fast 50December 20, 2020 33

Founded in 2012, the company boasts an impressive client list of virtually all the top tech companies you could nameBY POST REPORTER

‘It’s strange in a way,” Eoin Leonard, chief executive at i3PT, says, “from the very beginning we’ve al-ways had a very strong, al-most idealistic view of what we stand for. We have always been focused on improving standards in the built envi-ronment and driving better culture in the industry”.

It’s an approach which has served the company well. Founded in 2012, i3PT now operates across five offices in Ireland and Britain, with over 70 staff. The company operates as something of a hybrid, one part profession-al services provider and one part software company. It’s a

common story, whereby the subject matter expert sets out on a foray into software de-velopment to help ‘solve their own problem’ only to find that they are quite good at it.

Leonard is aware of the cli-ché and i3PT has been care-ful to avoid the pitfalls. “It’s not uncommon for services businesses to create some form of ‘consult-ware’ a term sometimes used to describe software that depends heavily upon the consultancy firm to support it. It was something which we hoped to avoid.” Leonard says.

“The risk was that we create something which is either not scalable, or (even worse) we do not support the product adequately and we damage the reputation which we’ve

built in our building certifi-cation business. We decided to learn as much as possible from others and invest in the software business properly, which is what we have done.”

i3PT has benefited from that investment. The company boasts an impressive client list, which includes virtual-ly all of the top technology companies one could name. Moreover, it has achieved the unusual feat of spanning vir-tually all segments within the broad construction sector.

“Our services and soft-ware are used on all kinds of projects, everything from a €500 million data centre to a €10 million social hous-ing development and from a pharmaceutical plant to a commercial office develop-ment.” Leonard says.

“I honestly believe that I3PT are the best company in the world at what we do, we are not yet the biggest, but I believe that we are the best. Some people may believe that this is fanciful thinking, but Ireland is an incredible place for a company such as ours to

test our processes and tech-nology.

“Thanks to the IDA, we get to work with the biggest and best companies in the world and thanks to Enterprise Ire-land we have every support available to us to achieve our R&D goals. We benefit from

the most sophisticated cus-tomer demand imaginable and we exceed the expec-tations of these customers every day.”

This is a common story among the companies in this year’s Deloitte Technol-ogy Fast 50. Irish companies

that manage to secure mul-tinational clients, develop world-beating intellectual property and then go on to export these products and services internationally.

It is not all down to mac-roeconomics though, as Leonard points out. “Culture is something of a buzzword these days, but we are very lucky to have a great one at i3PT. I believe that it stems from two things; firstly we recruit very carefully, only hiring the very best people that we can and secondly I think that our team are very much connected with the purpose of the organisation.”

Leonard notes that the business is very much fo-cused on improving standards across a range of areas, all of which he says contribute to a safer, sustainable society.

“If we do what we do well, which is to improve quality, building safety and culture in construction, society will benefit and people will be safer in their homes, schools, workplaces and elsewhere. That is a great thing to do for

a living and it’s not hard to get behind it,” Leonard says.

“Our sustainability team are also in the midst of devel-oping some innovative new services and software, which we believe will massively im-pact on how property finan-ciers consider real estate risk. If we are successful in this en-deavour it can contribute sig-nificantly to decarbonisation in our industry, which we are very passionate about.

“We really do have an in-credible multi-talented group of people in the company and we all get on very well too, which helps. We do try to take care of people, whether it’s putting gyms in our of-fices, providing performance coaching, strength and con-ditioning sessions (for those who want them) or just trying to be kind in our day to day dealings.”

Leonard notes that in 2020 the company made a large in-vestment in benefits packages for their team. “Over the past year or so, some colleagues had health scares, which led us to investing in a compa-

ny-wide income protection scheme as well as other life assurance benefits. We hope they’ll never need them, but it’s of huge benefit to them if they ever did.”

i3PT’s UK business has also been thriving in uncer-tain times, having teamed up with the CIOB to publish the recent ‘Golden Thread sur-vey’, which looks at the UK construction industry’s read-iness for digitalisation. This initiative was headed up by i3PT’s chief technology offi-cer Vicki Reynolds, who was also recognised at this year’s Deloitte awards, picking up the Women in Technology Advocate Award.

Reynolds is equally excited about the future, “the talent and passion of the i3PT team makes it a genuinely electric environment to work in. I be-lieve that we have and will continue to drive real and sustainable change, not only because of our fantastic peo-ple and culture, but because we take the time to truly un-derstand the problems we are trying to solve.”

COMMERCIAL CONTENT

BY POST REPORTER

Broadly speaking, the story of busi-ness in recent years has been the story of digital transfor-mation, with every sector from the powerhouses of banking and finance to the most modest of takeaway restaurants seeking to con-nect with smartphone-happy customers.

But what does this mean for those businesses already the most digital – the tech sector?

Anya Cummins, partner and head of Deloitte private and M&A Advisory partner, said that the first thing it means is growth.

“Ireland has a very vibrant indigenous technology sec-tor,” she said.

Naturally, many of these businesses, including Fast 50 entrants and laureates, are engaged in helping other businesses with digital trans-formation.

“Digitisation and connec-tivity are big themes in Ire-

land, and these businesses are enabling that transfor-mation,” said Cummins.

Digging down into the detail this means that, in Ireland as elsewhere, technology busi-nesses are proving to be re-silient in the current market, typically have high valuation multiples, attract capital and are seeking to expand rapidly. Often this means merger and acquisition (M&A) transac-tions – with tech business-es raising capital, acquiring businesses, and some exiting over time.

With Deloitte recognised last week as Ireland’s M&A Financial Advisor of the Year 2020 by Mergermarket, Cum-mins knows a thing or two about M&A.

“The technology business-es that are driving customer and employee connectivity, supporting e-commerce, delivering communications, supporting the pharma and life sciences sectors, providing e-learning capabilities, focus-ing on energy tech; innovating in the fintech space, and many

more sub-sectors in the tech-nology sector – they are all very resilient and attractive right now. They’re looking to scale, using acquisitions to ac-celerate growth, are raising capital and are, of course, at-tractive to corporate buyers,” she said.

It’s not just a case of being gobbled up though. Fast 50 entrants are themselves ac-quiring other businesses as they chart their path to con-tinued growth.

“Shareholders may wish to ultimately exit, but are also themselves consolidating their markets to accelerate growth. Welltel and Arkphire have been acquisitive, for ex-ample, as they have scaled their businesses, and there are numerous other examples in the Irish technology sector.

“I suspect you will see con-tinued acquisition activity in the Fast 50 cohort this year as they grow,” she said.

As with everything else this year, the coronavirus pandemic is an unavoidable fact of life, and while the

2020 Fast 50, being based on 2019 financial returns, does not reflect it, it nonetheless shows areas and individual businesses that are likely to thrive.

Naturally, a number of business sectors have been negatively af-fected, notably retail, leisure, travel and hospitality.

Capital has to flow somewhere, though, and as a result more is flowing into tech-nology.

“Technology has continued to be in gen-eral a high growth area,” said Cummins.

This includes businesses that are disrupting sectors that may be challenged at the moment and those that are enabling us all to connect in a digital environment.

“eShopWorld has won the Fast 50 three times in a row and is a fantastic success story for indigenous technology in Ireland. Businesses like that are in a very exciting position

and are continuing to scale, generate employment and internationalise,” she said.

Cummins said that con-tinued strong M&A activity in this sector reflects the fact that businesses in the tech sector have always been at-tractive to investors and strong M&A activity levels and high

valuations are likely to persist into 2021.

When it comes to derisking or selling the business in whole or in part, however, private equity in-vestors and potential

strategic buyers have different goals. As a re-

sult, if shareholders are considering a sale; they need

to consider their objectives and design their exit to align with their goals.

“Founders will often have an exit strategy and/or a shareholder – there’s a big difference between a trans-action with a private equity partner, who wants to go on that growth journey with the team, or selling to a strategic party in a buyout,” she said.

“Private equity will be looking to invest in a busi-ness to double or triple it over a three-to-five-year period and then exit, potentially in a secondary deal to another fund, or via IPO or trade sale. A strategic buyer is buying the business, may integrate that business into its own group and will typically have its own strategic plans which will drive the acquisition strategy,” she said.

In either case, a technology business can attract a lot of capital and investor or buyer interest at premium valua-tions, particularly in the cur-rent market, but to do so they need to be prepared, she said.

“The biggest thing that kills deals is pace. Being able to get a transaction through in

a timely manner and drive competitive tension means being ready with a clear busi-ness plan, the financial KPIs [key performance indica-tors] and the level and type of financial information that an investor or buyer will re-quire.”

For Cummins, the increase in M&A activity across the sector is indicative of posi-tive trends.

“It’s exciting and a really good news story: it’s great to be able to celebrate that, this year, of all years, and to rec-ognise fantastic and positive growth,” she said.

“We look forward to seeing how these businesses con-tinue to scale; and 2021 will be a really interesting year in this space.”

Coming together: why tech sector leads the pack in age of connectivityMergers and acquisitions activity among Fast 50 laureates shows strong indigenous tech sector in Ireland

Anya Cummins, partner and head of Deloitte private and M&A Advisory partner

i3PT has ‘always been focused on improving standards in the built environment and driving better culture in the industry’

Vicki Reynolds, chief technology officer, i3PT

Technology businesses that are driving

customer and employee connectivity are all very

attractive right now

Social conscience drives better solutions for i3PT

Business Post Focus On: Deloitte Fast 5034 December 20, 2020

Low Code No CodeDigital Services | CloudAI | Cyber Security

www.tekenable.ie

Experts in driving digital evolution

COMMERCIAL CONTENT

The awards, now in their 21st year, rank Ireland’s fastest growing technology companies Winner: Vicki Reynolds, chief technology officer, i3PT certification

Women in Technology Advocate Award in association with Vodafone

This award is given to someone who has demonstrated through their actions that they are an advocate for increasing participation by and promotion of women in the technology sector

Impact Award in association with Facebook

Innovative New Technology Award in association with Google

Inaugural Alumni Award

Winner: SilverCloud Health, pictured is Ken Cahill, chief executive This award is for the company that has made the most significant impact within the current year

Winner: Alan O’Herlihy, chief executive of Everseen, overall winner Deloitte Fast 50 IrelandThis award is for the company that has created or introduced a new or innovative product or service to international markets that has helped grow their business over the last four years

Winner: Tommy Kelly, chief executive of eShopWorldThe Alumni Award recognises a company that has played a major part in the Fast 50 Programme to date, having ranked in the number one spot for three consecu-tive years from 2015 to 2017. This year’s Alumni Award winner is Tommy Kelly, chief executive of eShopWorld, a global commerce partner to many of the world’s most iconic retail brands that was launched in Dublin in 2010

Cormac O’Neill, chief executive, Webio and Overall Fast 50 #2 ranking (left) and Conor McCarthy, chief executive and co-founder, Flipdish and Overall Fast 50 #3 ranking. Pictured attending the 2020 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards which took place virtually on Wednesday 16 December. The awards, now in their 21st year, rank Ireland’s fastest growing technology companies and recognise indigenous technology companies that have demonstrated exceptional growth in turnover in the last four years