A startup founded by execs from one of Ireland's biggest tech firms is folding
Rococo Software, established by former high-ranking staff at Iona Technologies, will go into liquidation.
ROCOCO SOFTWARE, AN Irish startup whose founders were senior executives at one of the country’s biggest-ever tech firms, Iona Technologies, is set to go into liquidation.
Dublin-based Rococo developed software to enable Bluetooth wireless technology on mobile phones. The software linked devices such as laptops, mobile phones into communication networks.
The firm was founded by Sean O’Sullivan with his colleagues Karl McCabe and Ross O’Crowley. The three men all held senior positions in Iona Technologies, one of Ireland’s stars during the dotcom boom.
Iona
Iona developed software that allowed businesses to maximise the performance of their existing IT platforms.
A Trinity College spin-out, the company floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in February 1997 and was valued at $1.75 billion at its peak in 2000. It was sold to US rival Progress Software for $162 million in 2008.
Iona Technologies co-founder Annrai O'Toole. He was not involved in Rococo Software.
O’Sullivan was Iona’s vice president of professional services, McCabe served as senior engineering manager while O’Crowley was vice president of sales for the European, Africa and the Middle East region.
In 2000 the three men founded Rococo. It raised about €3.2 million from Trinity Venture Capital, a fund focused on investing in early stage Irish technology companies, in 2001, intending to push into the US market.
Losses
However, costs quickly mounted with accumulated losses running to more than €3 million by 2004 with revenues of less than €1 million.
Although Rococo managed to secure more funding, including an additional €750,000 from Trinity, it was unable to generate any significant revenue and had accumulated losses of €1.2 million at the end of 2014, according to its most-recent accounts.
Rococo partnered with the National Digital Research Centre to develop a platform called LocalSocial. LocalSocial simplifies the process of creating mobile apps which incorporate features such as real-time locations and social media.
Rococo had aimed to sell the software to parties such as phone manufacturers and marketing companies. However, a spokesman for NDRC said that although the technology is still in use, “its viability as a commercial enterprise has run its course”.
He added: “Rococo, despite all the hard work and effort of all involved, is being liquidated. Unfortunately, this is part and parcel of the startup world, some ventures continue their progress and work out very successfully and some others don’t even though they might have had good prospects initially.”
