Interview with Pierce Dargan, co- founder of Equine MediRecord and New Frontiers 2017 Graduate.
2017 Graduate, Pierce Dargan, of Equine MediRecord
Pierce Dargan is former TU Dublin, Greenway Hub, Grangegorman client and graduate of the 2017 TU Dublin New Frontiers Phase 2 Programme. Pierce founded Equine MediRecord with co-founders Simon Hillary and Finlay Dargan in 2016. The cloud-based platform helps transform and digitise the equine industry by managing regulatory aspects of racehorse and sport horse medicines and animal welfare compliance.
Equine MediRecord has been approved by equine regulators in countries such as Ireland, United Kingdom, France, United States and Saudi Arabia. The Equine MediRecord platform has also been used by some of the top horse organisations in the world such as the Breeders Cup World Championships, The Saudi Cup, The Arabian Racing Organisation, 1S/T Racing (at the Pegasus World Cup and Preakness Stakes) and the Maryland 5 Star.
Diane Hurley, New Frontiers Programme Manager at TU Dublin City campus was talking to Pierce about the company’s achievements to date since graduating from the TU Dublin New Frontiers Programme.
- What would you consider to be your most successful achievements since finishing up the New Frontiers Programme? Last year we had a hugely successful year as we managed to secure $10 million of funding from a US private equity firm to fund the growth of the company and really drive adoption of its compliance platform. Equine MediRecord was also awarded Ireland's Best Tech Start up at the National start up Awards 2022.
- What has been the most challenging part of the journey as entrepreneur to date? Probably starting. I set up the business with the founding team straight out of college. I had so much to learn as I had never started a business before nor had I had a full-time job in the business world. I had to quickly learn the skills required to run a business. New Frontiers really helped in this process.
- Where do you plan EquineMediRecord to be in five years? In five years I hope to have our Equine MediRecord system used every day on every continent globally, bar Antarctica, with millions of horses having their welfare ensured by our system.
Find out more about our Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers programme