ArrayPatch takes home top honour worth €130,000
Trade
Cork-based biotech company ArrayPatch has been announced as the winner of the InterTradeIreland all-island Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition, walking away with a cash prize of €130,000 to invest in their business. ArrayPatch also won the deep tech category on the night.
ArrayPatch is developing DerMap, a next-generation pain free dissolving microneedle technology which penetrates the skin barrier, dissolves and releases medication precisely at the target site. By repurposing proven drug compounds and bypassing the need for invasive treatments, ArrayPatch is creating a platform with the potential to transform how conditions such as nail fungal infections, skin cancers, migraines and metabolic diseases are treated.
Dr Waleed Faisal, CEO of ArrayPatch, said: “Becoming the overall Seedcorn winner is a tremendous validation of our technology and our vision. ArrayPatch was built to make effective therapies easier, safer and more accessible for patients, and this recognition shows how much potential DerMap has to reshape drug delivery. The support we’ve received throughout the Seedcorn competition has sharpened our strategy and accelerated our path towards first-in-human studies. We’re incredibly proud of how far we’ve come, and excited for the next stage of growth.”
The Seedcorn competition aims to improve the investor readiness of innovative new-start and early-stage businesses across the island. 2025 saw a new increased total competition prize fund of €800,000, with a new primary focus on ensuring a broad range of winners across all categories. Participants in the competition also continue to benefit from access to business planning workshops, unique networking opportunities and access to angel investors, and mentorship support throughout the competition to help them secure vital funding and support to drive their growth.
Gigi Supplements and HaPPE Earth won in the B2C and B2B categories, each taking home €100,000. Slice of Life, a Dublin based food start-up company, won the impact award, taking home €20,000.
TechCentral Reporters