A Limerick agri-company that was established by two brothers who took inspiration from their family’s sheep farm has won the Best New Start category in an all-island competition and a €50,000 prize.
Cotter Agritech, based in Abbeyfeale Co. Limerick, which was co-founded by Jack and Nick Cotter in 2019, was one of the key winners in the 2024 InterTradeIreland all-island Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition.
The Limerick agri-company won the Best New Start category for its SmartWorm, mobile app which according to Cotter Agritech “enables farmers to treat only the animals who need a drench and leave the rest untreated, without any production loss”.
The app was developed in-house by the Co. Limerick company, which also received an additional €20,000 cash prize in the InterTradeIreland competition for winning a sustainability/low carbon award, “as recognition of the best investment proposal from a company operating in the low carbon, sustainability sector”.
Limerick agri-company
The InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition is one of the largest business competitions of its kind on the island with a a total prize fund of €300,000 up for grabs for “promising start-ups and early-stage businesses”.
Plio Surgical, a spin-out of Trinity College Dublin developing an innovative magnetic anastomosis device for gastrointestinal surgery, was the overall winner of the competition.
But according to Nick Cotter, CEO and co-founder of Cotter Agritech, winning the Best New Start award is a “huge validation” for the Limerick company, which is a family-owned business with global ambitions.
Cotter said the company initially entered the seedcorn competition “to improve our investment pitch, receive feedback on our scaling plan and get exposure to potential investors who want to join us in our journey of solving drug resistance across livestock farming”.
He said the prize money from the competition will “contribute to making key senior management hires” which in turn Cotter said, “will drive the SmartWorm approach across our key markets—Ireland, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand”.
The family-owned business also wants to use some of the prize to fund trials for SmartWorm for cattle.
Cotter said the Limerick company is now currently “in the middle of trying to raise a €450,000 seed round” and its success in the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition gives it “huge credibility”.
“It’s going to be a launch pad for us to go and raise that investment round and achieve the ambitions we set out to achieve.
“We’re deploying our product in Australia and New Zealand next year, so our aim is to deliver to farmers there and increase their profitability by up to 20%,” Cotter added.