App firm secures Enterprise funding

© Sligo Champion

Three college lecturers are celebrating after their app idea to enrol and retain foreign students has secured funding from Enterprise Ireland's Competitive Start Fund.

Declan Sweeney founded StudyBundles to develop the CampusConnect app in Sligo.

It is customised to each university or IT and aims to encourage the international student to choose the college with which they have connected.

CEO Declan took part in the Enterprise Ireland start-up programme New Frontiers at IT Sligo when he moved back to Ireland with his family last year. The other two founders, John O'Hagan and Daniel Hinkley, are still based in London and Manchester. "Winning the Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start-Up Fund was fantastic for StudyBundles," said Declan.

"It is a significant milestone, not only for raising finance, but also in terms of recognising our potential and deomsontrating that companies from the North west can compete on a national and international level," he said.

The fund is designed to help companies reach key commercial milestones and StudyBundles is already undergoing its first round of investment.

CampusConnect has been adopted by the University of Limerick, Maynooth College University and Letterkenny IT. Other universities in Ireland and the UK are also in talks to take on the app.