Dublin’s Skippio has secured €540,000 in seed funding to expand its innovative fan experience platform overseas, especially in the United Kingdom.
The company, founded in 2022, is in the quest to resolve the issue of long queues for food and drinks at large-scale events such as sports matches and concerts.
The funding round was led by private investors, with additional backing from Enterprise Ireland’s High-Potential Start-Up (HPSU) funding. Skippio plans to use the investment to enter the UK market, enhancing its platform’s capabilities and growing its team.
Skippio’s app enables users to order and pay for food and drinks from anywhere in a venue, avoiding the need to join physical queues. Users receive real-time updates on their orders and can collect their items via an express lane.
The start-up’s CEO, Daniel Coen highlighted that the platform significantly reduces queue times, allowing fans to enjoy more of the event while also boosting revenue for event operators by reducing the number of frustrated customers leaving queues.
Coen stated, “The funding will be used to expand our business into major UK venues and events, grow our team, and continue to develop our application with the customer at the forefront. We are also exploring additional challenges around the fan experience beyond food and beverages that we can help address.”
Skippio has enjoyed considerable success since its inception. The company won the Best Pitch award at the Prep4Seed start-up awards in November 2023 and completed all three phases of the New Frontiers Programme funded by Enterprise Ireland.
Donnchadh Cullinan, head of ICT HPSU at Enterprise Ireland, praised Skippio’s technology for filling a market gap, enabling attendees to enjoy events without spending excessive time in queues. He congratulated the Skippio team on their recent investment success and noted Enterprise Ireland’s ongoing support for the company during its early growth stages.
