CitySwift

WestBIC is an Enterprise Ireland partner providing hands-on startup support, funding readiness and investment preparation for early-stage founders in the west of Ireland.

Based in Galway, Ireland, CitySwift was founded by Alan Farrelly and Brian O'Rourke in 2016. CitySwift collaborates with public sector transport authorities and private bus operators to eliminate obstacles in accessing and interpreting transport data, optimising over 1 billion passenger journeys annually.

With hybrid working from home patterns and increasing leisure travel, cities have to become more agile in their operations to ensure passengers can access fit-for-purpose, convenient transport services. CitySwift’s platform aggregates, cleans and enriches data from hundreds of sources, providing both operators and authorities with an accurate single source of truth. These partnerships are centred on access to precise insights throughout the network, empowering both entities to adopt a data-centric strategy aimed at moving passengers from private transportation to more environmentally-friendly public transit options.

Key supports received during start-up process & the role WestBIC played

WestBIC played a vital role in supporting CitySwift’s first major funding round. They were always on hand to provide support and advice to help CitySwift to become investor-ready and avoid any common pitfalls. CitySwift’s team were lucky to have such a valuable resource and knowledge base in the West of Ireland, and John [Brennan] and Mary [Ryan] are genuinely passionate about supporting local companies to achieve their global ambitions

Words of Advice for new startups

For any new company starting up, it’s key to speak to prospective clients early, to test your ideas, validate assumptions and really try to eliminate wasted time and resources by building a product or service that isn’t fit-for-purpose. You will always need to iterate and fine-tune but the quicker you can do this, the quicker you get to build a good foundation for scale.

Future Plans

Having opened our first UK office in London in March 2024, and announcing additional partnerships with Bus Éireann, Transport North East, Transdev Blazefield, and trentbarton, CitySwift is realising its vision of reducing global emissions from transport, supporting public transport networks to attract more people to choose public transportation over private car use.

Additionally, in February 2024 CitySwift announced the close of its latest funding round of €7 million led by Gresham House Venture, as the company scales for growth globally and bringing total funding to to date €14.5 million.