Enterprise Ireland launches the Founder of the Year Award 2026

Enterprise Ireland today launched the High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) Founder of the Year Award for 2026. The overall winner will be announced at an awards ceremony which will take place on Thursday, 15^th October 2026 at the Salesforce Tower in Dublin.
 
This year, 38 High Potential Start-ups were eligible for the award, with the list now narrowed down to five finalists: Breda O’Regan, Lia EyeCare; Mark Birrane, WONDR Jellies; Robert Norton, Kaptea; Seán Kirwan, MedWrite AI; and Leah Fletcher, Dunbar Pharma.
 
On 15^th October, the final winner will be selected by a panel of judges: Heidi Davis, CEO & Founder of Peri, Founder of the Year 2024; Dan Fox, Strategic Advisor of Eudia and Co-founder, Johnson Hana (former CEO), and Donnchadh Cullinan, Divisional Manager for Technology, Services and Consumer, Enterprise Ireland. 
 
The Founder of the Year award forms an important element of the Enterprise Ireland HPSU Founders Forum. Now in its 11^th year, the HPSU Founders Forum, which is delivered in partnership with Select Strategies, continues to grow with over 500 founders having participated to date from a variety of sectors including digital technologies, medical devices, fintech, food, engineering and construction. The objective of the Forum is to provide a platform for founders to help founders succeed internationally and scale faster.

ENDS
 
For further information:
 
Deirdre Geraghty, Enterprise Ireland
press@enterprise-ireland.com


Founder of the Year 2026 – Finalist Bios

 
Breda O’Regan, Lia EyeCare

Breda O’Regan is co-founder and CEO of Lia EyeCare, an Irish eyecare technology company developing science-backed solutions that work in harmony with the body. A KPMG-trained Chartered Accountant with senior leadership experience at Apple, Allergan and Johnson & Johnson, Breda has led Lia through fundraising, CE certification and manufacturing scale-up. Its first product, Nightleaf®, is a non-invasive wearable for use before sleep, supporting the eyes’ natural ability to restore and recover.

 
Mark Birrane, WONDR

Mark Birrane is the founder and CEO of WONDR, the Irish brand redefining the sweets category with great-tasting jellies that deliver all the enjoyment of traditional sweets, with added nutritional benefits like being low sugar, high protein and high fibre. A former League of Ireland footballer, Mark combined his passion for health, sport and business to launch WONDR, which is now growing across Ireland, the UK and Europe, with the US firmly in sight.

 
Robert Norton, Kaptea

Robert Norton is co-founder and CTO of Kaptea, the company behind Pronto, a journey orchestration platform built on Twilio. Pronto runs workflows and AI across every communication channel, connecting people, AI agents and business systems to orchestrate critical customer journeys end to end. Robert leads Kaptea’s technology and product strategy, turning complex communications into coordinated journeys where every commitment is tracked and every loop closes.
 

Seán Kirwan, MedWrite AI

Seán Kirwan is CEO of MedWrite AI. Hospitals use MedWrite to safely deploy and manage AI agents that automate clinical documentation, coding and administrative workflows, completing tasks up to 10x faster. MedWrite works with public and private healthcare organisations across Ireland and has raised over €1 million in funding. Seán has over 20 years’ experience in digital health and was previously Global Director of Digital Health Solutions for Neuroscience at Novartis.
 

Leah Fletcher, Dunbar Pharma

Leah Fletcher is founder and CEO of Dunbar Pharma, Ireland’s first EU GMP-certified cannabinoid pharmaceutical manufacturer. She built Dunbar from concept to manufacture, securing major funding, a first-of-its-kind suite of technically demanding licences, developing in-house processes and IP, and launching WaterClear THC™, an innovative plant-derived dronabinol API, to partners behind ten magistral preparations in two major export markets. A recognised authority on cannabinoid regulation, Leah leads a team in Athlone, pairing senior pharmaceutical professionals with an ambitious scientific graduate programme.