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by Oroson
June 26, 2019
Danske Bank recently ran a feature with Sync NI about startups who were using the Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub at their branch on Donegall Square West. We were delighted when asked if we would feature in the article as a current user of the hub. Read the story below.
The Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub has become home to some of Northern Ireland’s most exciting new tech and digital startups.
It is a little over nine months since Danske Bank and Catalyst opened the Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub, a co-working space for Northern Ireland’s digital and fintech startups.
In that time, the Hub has become a thriving city center location where tech entrepreneurs are meeting, learning and availing of the resources on offer from the two lead partners on the project.
While it is undoubtedly a great workspace, it is the entrepreneurs and company founders in the Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub who make it what it is, so what better way to get a feel for the place than to hear their stories?
Daniel McGlade is the founder of Oroson, an online, visual collaboration platform that brings content, tools and communication together in one central hub to increase productivity.
The company’s goal is to save organizations time by changing the way that teams work together online and it has timed its entry into the market right at a time when there’s a wave of interest in flexible working across multiple industries.
Daniel explains that Oroson has pivoted away from its initial target sector, higher education, to the corporate market after realizing its product had far wider appeal.
Daniel sees any sector suffering from “information overload” as a potential target. Today it has customers in the professional services sector as well as the likes of the IFA, Boojum, Mirror Media, Sport NI and some of the big four consulting firms. While mainly in the UK, being a cloud-based solution, Oroson has users from “Panama to Canada”.
“There has been a massive trend for remote working and that provides a great opportunity for us to solve the problem it creates. A number of businesses are increasing the use of mobile offices and migrating to the cloud as their teams work in different locations outside of a central office,” he says.
“The creation of spaces like Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub at Danske Bank illustrates how work is changing. Traditional office spaces are outdated for many organizations but it can be hard for them to move to more flexible arrangements. We are providing a digital solution to that problem and we’re using our own product to operate that way ourselves. The Hub provides a perfect support and resource for us as we’re able to use it when we bring the whole team together.”
The company has already completed a £1.2m funding round and is about to close another £1.2m round, with plans in place to undertake a series A-round of £5m in the very near future.
“Our customer numbers are steadily growing and we are getting a lot of organic growth from customer referrals. The business is in good shape.”