Latest news with #SumUp
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
The Big Tech Show: How Kilmacud Crokes' corner forward became CEO of payments giant Sumup
Niall Mac an tSionnaigh, CEO of SumUp joins Adrian on this week's episode of The Big Tech Show. The conversation by Niall talking about his wife, Terri Ann Fox, finding it extremely difficult to set up a business account for her organic produce from their organic farm in Wicklow. When Niall's wife bought the SumUp Air (card reader device), he was so impressed by the technology that he joined the company. You can listen to the full episode here on the Irish Independent website or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Tech Show: How Kilmacud Crokes' corner forward became CEO of payments giant Sumup
Irish Independent
23-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
SMEs ‘need all the help they can get' with GDPR and Dora rules, says SumUp compliance chief
Claire Gillanders added: 'When you're struggling to stay afloat, it can be hard to keep up with new regulations and rules.' Ms Gillanders works with Irish SMEs to help them manage their finances and stay on top of new regulations around issues such as risk management and cyber security. 'It's evident that small businesses are struggling – with the cost of living increasing and the cost of running a business higher than ever. Especially with the really small merchants that we work with, it can be super challenging,' she said. 'These businesses are ready for new regulations, it's just challenging because a lot of them would be one-man bands trying to juggle all the aspects of running a business, which is harder than ever now.' Ms Gillanders expects that AI, GDPR regulations and Dora, which came into effect this year, will be some of the greatest challenges. Dora, or the Digital Operational Resilience Act, are new regulations for tech and financial companies to prevent cyber risks through clear-cut rules around risk management, classification and reporting of cyber incidents. 'My background is in risk management – my philosophy is that you can't manage what you don't know about. For SMEs who have staff, creating awareness around those requirements and the importance of following them can be really important,' she said. 'The biggest impact of getting these regulations right can be the question of trust – customers need to trust the tools you offer them, it's about being able to rely on your payment-service provider. If a business fails and that trust is broken, it's really hard to get it back.' In her role, Ms Gillanders supports product-development teams and technology teams in fintech organisations to understand their obligations. She thinks an important step is to ensure companies are aware of the resources available to them. 'We need to focus on helping SMEs understand what resources are already available to them – it's all there online, business owners can network and find those tools that will help them,' she said ADVERTISEMENT 'Going forward, businesses also need to catch up on AI governance. We also need to look at data privacy and security, to ensure that customers are comfortable if they're using these tools to manage compliance.' SumUp's work to bring companies up-to-date with these regulations falls under its 'merchant care' services. Having spent over four years working on the risk-management strategy SumUp offers, Ms Gillanders finds that fintech is changing as a sector. 'The idea of fintech really appeals to me. I've run a small business as a hairdresser, I've worked across different sides of the corporate banking world at the Bank of Ireland, CitiBank and PTSB before I joined SumUp in 2020,' she said. 'I think the sector is changing, there's a real focus on women, and ensuring that diversity and inclusion is here to stay. Ultimately, that helps us stay ahead of the curve.'
Irish Independent
23-04-2025
- Irish Independent
Check out Cork attraction that is Ireland's eighth most ‘underrated' tourist hotspot
The Cork attraction has been open to tourists for just over a decade A Cork tourist attraction has been listed among Ireland's most 'underrated' to visit this year. A new report from SumUp, known best for their contactless payment terminals that flooded mobile coffee shops during the pandemic, has revealed Ireland's most underrated tourist hotspots. The study considered a number of factors, including number of reviews, tourist traffic, and the cost of public transport. Rated first on the list is Dublin's 14 Henrietta Street museum, with Skellig Michael in Kerry and the Slieve League Cliffs in Donegal also placing within the top three. However, Spike Island, across the water from Cobh, has earned itself a respectable eighth position in the rankings, scoring 84.85 points out of 100 on the index. Spike Island has a long and storied history. Known best as the site of a prison for many decades, the first settlement dates back to a monastery built in the 7th century, while the largest convict depot in the world during Victorian times was also situated on the small island in the middle of the harbour. Spike Island had previously held a Defence Forces barracks before the prison, with families of army members forming their own community on the island, that had a small primary school and a number of houses, still intact from its army days. The island served as a prison as recently as 2004, with its most infamous moment coming when prisoners rioted in 1984, causing destruction and damage to the prison and some of its historic property. In 2010 it was handed over to Cork County Council, who put significant work into updating the site into a tourist centre, which opened in 2016, and serves as the perfect day trip on the Cork-Cobh train, as boats bring visitors over and back from the nearby town several times a day. Spike has a number of walking trails that go around the island, as well as a museum on the main Fort Mitchell, and a schedule of ever-changing exhibitions that keep every visit fresh. 'We created this ranking to spotlight some of Ireland's hidden gems—places that are often overlooked in favour of the usual tourist spots like Dublin Castle or Guinness Storehouse,' said Corin Camenisch, Marketing and Growth Leader at SumUp. 'By highlighting these underrated hotspots, we're hoping to show people spots they might not know about and spread the benefits of local tourism.' 'With TikTokers and influencers constantly sharing cool, off-the-beaten-path places, more and more people are eager to discover unique destinations, and we think that's a great way to help local economies thrive. By bringing attention to these lesser-known landmarks, we hope to not only provide visitors with new and enriching experiences but also support small businesses that may not have the same visibility as those placed in larger, well-known, tourist attractions. 'These hidden gems often rely on tourism to sustain their operations, and by shining a light on them, we're hoping to ensure that local businesses can benefit from a steady flow of visitors, which is crucial for their growth and long-term success.'
Irish Independent
22-04-2025
- Irish Independent
Check out Cork attraction that is Ireland's eighth most ‘underrated' tourist hotspots
The Cork attraction has been open to tourists for just over a decade A Cork tourist attraction has been listed among Ireland's most 'underrated' to visit this year. A new report from SumUp, known best for their contactless payment terminals that flooded mobile coffee shops during the pandemic, has revealed Ireland's most underrated tourist hotspots. The study considered a number of factors, including number of reviews, tourist traffic, and the cost of public transport. Rated first on the list is Dublin's 14 Henrietta Street museum, with Skellig Michael in Kerry and the Slieve League Cliffs in Donegal also placing within the top three. However, Spike Island, across the water from Cobh, has earned itself a respectable eighth position in the rankings, scoring 84.85 points out of 100 on the index. Spike Island has a long and storied history. Known best as the site of a prison for many decades, the first settlement dates back to a monastery built in the 7th century, while the largest convict depot in the world during Victorian times was also situated on the small island in the middle of the harbour. Spike Island had previously held a Defence Forces barracks before the prison, with families of army members forming their own community on the island, that had a small primary school and a number of houses, still intact from its army days. The island served as a prison as recently as 2004, with its most infamous moment coming when prisoners rioted in 1984, causing destruction and damage to the prison and some of its historic property. In 2010 it was handed over to Cork County Council, who put significant work into updating the site into a tourist centre, which opened in 2016, and serves as the perfect day trip on the Cork-Cobh train, as boats bring visitors over and back from the nearby town several times a day. Spike has a number of walking trails that go around the island, as well as a museum on the main Fort Mitchell, and a schedule of ever-changing exhibitions that keep every visit fresh. 'We created this ranking to spotlight some of Ireland's hidden gems—places that are often overlooked in favour of the usual tourist spots like Dublin Castle or Guinness Storehouse,' said Corin Camenisch, Marketing and Growth Leader at SumUp. 'By highlighting these underrated hotspots, we're hoping to show people spots they might not know about and spread the benefits of local tourism.' ADVERTISEMENT Learn more 'With TikTokers and influencers constantly sharing cool, off-the-beaten-path places, more and more people are eager to discover unique destinations, and we think that's a great way to help local economies thrive. By bringing attention to these lesser-known landmarks, we hope to not only provide visitors with new and enriching experiences but also support small businesses that may not have the same visibility as those placed in larger, well-known, tourist attractions. 'These hidden gems often rely on tourism to sustain their operations, and by shining a light on them, we're hoping to ensure that local businesses can benefit from a steady flow of visitors, which is crucial for their growth and long-term success.'
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Artisan Raises $25M To Replace Repetitive Work With AI Employees
"Stop Hiring Humans" billboard campaign Artisan, the YC-backed startup behind viral campaigns and AI-powered employees known as Artisans, today announced a $25 million Series A led by Glade Brook Capital, a $2 billion global growth equity firm with a portfolio that includes xAI, Perplexity, Stripe, Revolut, SpaceX, Airbnb, and Uber. The funding follows the breakout success of its 'Stop Hiring Humans' billboard campaign, which generated over 1 billion online impressions and introduced the world to Ava—the company's flagship AI BDR now hired by more than 250 organizations. Additional investors in the round include Y Combinator, Day One Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Oliver Jung, Fellows Fund, and others. Founded in 2023 by Jaspar Carmichael-Jack and Samantha Stallings, Artisan is building the next paradigm of software: a sleek, unified platform powered by AI employees, Artisans. Its flagship Artisan, Ava, automates outbound sales, replacing repetitive prospecting work with a smarter, fully autonomous system. The company is focused on two core goals: - Advancing AI employees from human-assisted to fully autonomous, capable of managing complex workflows with minimal oversight. - Consolidating the fragmented SaaS landscape into one intuitive platform, starting with outbound sales. 'Let's be honest, most companies waste millions paying talented people to do repetitive work that AI can handle better.' said Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, the 23-year-old co-founder and CEO of Artisan. 'Having brilliant minds stuck prospecting, personalizing emails, and tracking deliverability is a waste of human potential.' Ava is powered by Artisan's proprietary AI infrastructure: a model-agnostic, multi-agent system that handles each stage of outbound—from targeting and researching to writing and sending. Her real-time context engine scrapes the web for buying signals such as leadership changes, job postings, and funding announcements to ensure outreach is perfectly timed. Enterprise fintech company SumUp is one of hundreds of customers using Ava to scale outreach. By leveraging Artisan's unique local business targeting, integrating data from Google Maps, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google Reviews, SumUp receives 8–15 positive responses per week from previously unreachable local SMBs. 'At SumUp, we prioritize efficient and scalable growth,' said Karlo Buik, Growth Lead at SumUp. 'Artisan's platform streamlines our outreach and gives us the insights we need to reach the right businesses in meaningful ways.' As part of its mission to create real value—not vanity metrics—Artisan is piloting a new success-based pricing model through a partnership with the platform founded by Manny Medina, co-founder and former CEO of Outreach. 'We don't want to charge customers unless we're actually creating outcomes,' said Carmichael-Jack. 'Our north star is impact. If Ava is generating real conversations, booked meetings, or pipeline—that's when we should get paid.' Unlike traditional tools, Artisan is pioneering intent-driven outbound with advanced capabilities that allow Ava to engage prospects at exactly the right moment: 'Outbound the way it's done today is going to stop working,' said Carmichael-Jack. 'We're building products that make AI more intent-driven and, ironically, more human—so humans can focus on the things they're uniquely great at.' To accelerate product development, Artisan has appointed Ming Li as Chief Technology Officer. Li previously served as VP of Technology at unicorn Deel, and has led engineering teams at Rippling, TikTok, and Google. He joins alongside four senior engineers from Rippling, significantly expanding Artisan's technical depth as it scales its platform and expands into new product categories. Following Ava's success, Artisan plans to launch two new AI employees by the end of 2025: Aaron, an Inbound SDR Artisan, and Aria, a Meeting Assistant Artisan. Both will operate within the Artisan Sales ecosystem. 'We're building the full go-to-market ecosystem,' said Jaspar. 'One platform with every core product across sales, marketing, and customer success–powered by Artisans doing the work AI does best, and seamless software enabling humans to do theirs. Moving chronologically down the sales cycle, we're taking on each legacy category-leading SaaS player one by one.' As AI continues to reshape the future of work, Artisan is betting that the next generation of enterprise software won't just support human workflows—it will replace them where it makes sense. By automating the most repetitive, time-consuming tasks with intelligent, autonomous AI employees, Artisan is redefining what productivity looks like for go-to-market teams.
