Spotlight on Equal1
Equal1 Laboratories, a quantum computing company, headquartered at NexusUCD and formerly based at NovaUCD, was founded by Dr Dirk Leipold, Mike Asker and Professor R. Bogdan Staszewski as a spin-out from the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Equal1 is dedicated to making quantum computing, which offers unprecedented potential to unlock societal advancements in climate modelling, carbon capture, drug discovery, and AI modelling, affordable and accessible.
In 2025 the company unveiled Bell-1, named after Belfast-born physicist John Stewart Bell, the first quantum system purpose-built for the HPC (high performance computing) era.
Unlike first-generation quantum computers that demand dedicated rooms, infrastructure, and complex cooling systems, Bell-1 is designed for direct deployment in HPC-class environments. As a rack-mountable quantum node, it integrates directly alongside classical computer, as compact as a GPU server, yet exponentially more powerful for the world’s hardest problems.
The company, which also has offices in Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Romania, and US, has secured over €30 million in total funding to date, and investors include, Atlantic Bridge, Enterprise Ireland, European Innovation Council, Matterwave Ventures, TNO and 808 Ventures. The company currently employs a staff of over 45.
Spotlight on DOCOsoft
DOCOsoft an innovative provider of claims management solutions for the global property and casualty (P&C) insurance and reinsurance markets was established by Aidan O’Neill in 2008. Since then the company has become a leading provider of state-of-the-art claims management solutions for the Lloyd’s insurance market in London and the global P&C insurance and reinsurance markets.
At present, around half of all claims processed in the London Market, including Lloyd’s, go through one of DOCOsoft’s claims systems, which manage some £12 billion in premium income and result in up to 50% reduction in claims-handling turnaround time for clients.
The company, which is 100% self-funded, was previously headquartered at NovaUCD and is now headquartered at NexusUCD, and is operating in 8 countries including; UK, Japan, Poland, Portugal and India.
In recent years the company has been scaling rapidly and staff numbers have almost trebled since 2020 with the company currently employing nearly 80 people with turnover growing at an annual rate of over 25%.
Spotlight on TestReach
TestReach headquartered at NexusUCD, which was founded by Sheena Bailey and Louella Morton in 2014, provides leading computer-based assessment solutions used by professional associations, public agencies, universities, and corporations to run secure, online examinations. TestReach covers all areas of exam creation and rollout including question development and exam paper assembly, computer-based exam delivery (with or without online supervision), detailed marking, moderation and exam results analysis.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to a surge in global demand for the company’s technology. The company is now working in partnership with over 100 examining bodies, examining candidates in over 150+ countries, delivering in excess of 4 million exams annually and employs a staff of 90.
The company was ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards which highlight Ireland’s fastest growing technology organisations in 2022 and 2023.
The company co-founders were also shortlisted for the 2023 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Ireland Awards.