The Web Summit is the ultimate startup in itself. Kicking off in 2009, it saw 400 people gather in the Mansion House for a tech conference. Fast forward three years to 2012, and 4,000 delegates from 20 countries were on the scene. Now here we are in 2015 and that number has soared to 30,000 tecchies from over 100 countries set to hit the capital.

How did a small conference started by three Irish lads, Paddy Cosgrave a farmer’s son from Wicklow, Daire Hickey from Cork and David Kelly gather such pace?

Well, they got the top names in IT from across the globe on board. We’re talking Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix and Drew Houston, the guy that invented Dropbox.

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Get all these guys on board, provide the ultimate Dublin pub crawl and some top Irish food and you’ve got the biggest tech conference on the globe. It’s a no-brainer for startups to want to get onboard (despite the heftily-priced stand space), especially when you’ve got guys like Nicklas Zennstrom, the founder of Skype announcing, “We’re here to find the next Google, the next Facebook.”

Could the next international success come from a little Irish startup with a very big idea? We speak to three emerging companies ahead of their exhibit at the Web Summit.

GAAther (www.gaather.ie)

The GAA has long been at the heart of the community. However, the community has grown legs and now GAA players are living across the world, playing in fields from Sydney to New York. Keeping these players and their families connected was key to startup company GAAther, which is being developed by Louth GAA fanatics Daniel Bannon with father-son combo John and Michael McKeown.

Daniel says, “The idea came about when Michael went to Boston for the summer. He is a talented footballer but there was nowhere his parents could get live updates. GAAther (pronounced gather) will be a social networking app just for GAA sport. You’ll be able to select the clubs and teams you want to follow and see updates on their matches.”

The app is due to be launched early in 2016 and market research shows it is set to get very popular.

Divvy

Say goodbye to paper lists and forgetting your shopping. Divvy is an app that could transform the way your family shops. Often the best apps come from the simplest ideas and with this, you can store your shopping list in a place where all the family can see it. So if the shower gel has run out or the washing liquid needs a top up, anyone can add it to the list.

There will also be an option to issue receipts in case anyone needs to cough up for their own purchase. Believe it or not, this idea came from two young guys. David Diamond is a transition year student in Castleknock College in Dublin and Dylan Stuart an electrical engineering student in Maynooth.

Tax Hug

David O’Sullivan is a part-time farmer who is also running a successful website in Mayo with his mother Eithne. The company called Tax Hug is giving money back in the form of tax credits.

David says, “We created an online tool that allows PAYE employees to see if they are entitled to a refund. You just have to answer some simple questions about your marriage status, medical expenses, etc and we spot the gaps and calculate what you are owed.

“People can then claim back through us for €49. We’ll fill out the form and send it to Revenue. It’s especially beneficial to people whose circumstances have impacted their tax credits, such as getting married or changing your job set-up.”

David says they have been operating for a year, and in that time over 1,500 people have claimed back from them. “The average that our customers are getting back is €1,600. We even had a doctor from Mayo who got €8,500 back.”

“The next step for the company is that we are going to provide a service to the self-employed, farmers and small SMEs. We also want to break into the UK market and we hope our stand will help us do that.”

David’s mother Eithne, who is 63, is also heading off to the event.

“I’ve told her it’s a bit mad but she is looking forward to it.”?