Setanta Space, an Irish space technology start-up, has been named winner of the One to Watch Award following an investor showcase event to mark the conclusion of University College Dublin’s (UCD) 2026 AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme.
The focus of the 6-month programme, delivered by NovaUCD in partnership with CeADAR, Ireland’s Centre for Applied AI, was to support a cohort of disruptive AI-first start-ups to accelerate their commercial traction for global markets and to support them to become investment-ready scalable businesses.
Setanta Space which was co-founded by James Murphy and Adam Taylor in 2025 is focused on designing AI software and novel modular onboard computing hardware to make the next generation of satellites and spacecraft more autonomous, resilient, and capable.
The NovaUCD-headquartered company and an Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-Up was accepted earlier this year
onto the ESA BIC Ireland initiative, a two-year business incubation programme which supports innovative Irish start-ups that have a connection with space, and which are developing either upstream or downstream applications.
James Murphy, founder and CEO, Setanta Space, said, “I am delighted and thrilled that Setanta Space was named winner of the One to Watch Award at the end of the 2026 AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme especially given the calibre of the other participating start-ups.”
He added, “Our Setanta team is currently developing a new software tool, which we are calling Vertis, which will enable specialist engineers to put AI on satellites, drones and resilient systems automatically with one click of a button, which currently would take weeks of deployment work to complete. The benefits and opportunities for this technology are really significant and include a reduction in engineering time and costs for any company using our software.”
He concluded, “We are currently raising a €2 million pre-seed round to launch Vertis and bring it to market.”
Ten (10) start-ups completed this year’s AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme, including Setanta Space, and collectively these start-ups are seeking to raise €17 million in pre-seed or seed funding to accelerate their growth strategies over the next 12 to 18-months.
Liam Cronin, Director of Innovation, UCD, said, “Congratulations to Setanta Space on being named the winner of the One to Watch Award at the end of this year’s AI Ecosystem Accelerator. This year’s programme was focused on supporting ten excellent and ambitious AI-first start-ups that already had market validation or live pilots underway and are focused on accelerating traction on a global stage and are actively seeking to close a funding round. I would like to congratulate all ten start-up teams who completed this year’s programme and wish them every success in achieving their collective funding target of €17 million over the coming months.”
Dr John Lonsdale, CEO, CeADAR, said, “This year's accelerator featured inspirational entrepreneurs working across diverse sectors. They combined their in-depth sector knowledge with the latest in AI techniques to come up with highly investable innovations. CeADAR has been delighted to provide technical support during their journey."
The AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme provides a structured pathway for founders and includes a combination of commercial, fundraising and technical supports. It also includes guidance from CeADAR’s AI experts to strengthen AI implementation and readiness for scale and support on data strategy, model evaluation, AI deployment readiness to ensure the underlying AI is robust, reliable and fit for real-world use.
Participants also have access to collaborative co-working space at NovaUCD with the opportunity to connect with successful AI entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporates, investors and access to skilled interns.
The AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme is part of CeADAR's European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) for AI programme to support Irish start-ups and SMEs innovating with AI. This EDIH programme is funded through the EDIH framework, a Europe-wide initiative with funding of €700 million from both the European Commission and the Governments of member states.
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, through Enterprise Ireland, is leading on the EDIH programme for Ireland.
Laura Clifford, Senior Programme Manager EDIH, Enterprise Ireland, said, “The AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme at UCD continues to play a key role in developing a strong pipeline of innovative AI-first start-ups across Ireland. Congratulations to this year’s cohort which has just completed the programme and Enterprise Ireland looks forward to continuing to support these founders, in collaboration with NovaUCD and CeADAR, as they grow and scale their start-ups.”
At the final investor showcase event held at NovaUCD each of the ten participating start-ups pitched to an invited audience of investors and industry representatives and to a judging panel. The members of the judging panel were; John Collins, an angel investor with Tech Operators; Simon Factor, Head of New Ventures, NovaUCD (chair); Amy Neale, General Partner, Delta Partners, and Cillian Sugrue, Venture Associate, Elkstone.
The other participating start-ups which completed this year’s programme in addition to Setanta Space, were AnotherTrip; Databuckets; Diotima; Envaira; Infralign.ai; MESO; Neuronourish; RunCommerce and Stormlands Mining.
Thirty (30) start-ups have completed the three AI Ecosystem Accelerator Programmes delivered to date.
Applications for the next AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme will open in Q1 2027.
