Fantastic news has been announced as our Cluster Champion, Terry Clune, has been recognised as Irish Business Person of the Year.

The Business and Finance Awards Programme was established in 1974. Over the past 48 years, it has become the longest-running and most coveted business awards programme in Ireland. The Business Person of the Year Award, in association with KPMG, recognises an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding level of achievement across their career over the past year.

The recognition follows a very successful year for the Irish entrepreneur, which saw CluneTech company Immedis, a leading global payroll platform, acquired by UKG for €575M, in one of Ireland’s largest tech deals of 2023. Mr. Clune founded Immedis in 2016 to help large companies solve their global payroll problems. Demand for the Immedis payroll platform grew rapidly and the acquisition reflected an increase in valuation above its last investment round.

Mr. Clune is the founder and CEO of CluneTech, a suite of technology companies that includes TransferMate, the world’s leading B2B payments infrastructure-as-a-service provider. TransferMate, under the leadership of Mr. Clune and CEO Sinead Fitzmaurice, achieved unicorn status last year with a $1BN valuation after a $70M funding round, joining an elite group of just seven Irish tech unicorns to date. TransferMate, which was recognised as Fintech Company of the Year at the National Fintech Awards in September, was also shortlisted for Company of the Year at this evening’s awards ceremony.

Having founded his first company, Taxback, in 1996, Mr. Clune saw the potential in developing solutions to simplify business processes. He has since grown CluneTech to encompass a group of fintech companies with industry-leading solutions and global reach, that specialise in streamlining processes such as cross-border payments, tax compliance, global VAT and payroll and digital sales. From its Irish headquarters, he and his team have built the business from the ground up to become a global leader in fintech, with offices in 21 countries and a footprint across four continents.

Other companies in the group include original company Taxback, along with Taxback International, Sprintax, Visa First and Benamic.

Accepting the award, Mr. Clune said:

“I am humbled by this recognition, which I see as a tribute to our whole team and culture. With incredible progress and innovation happening across fintech, I’m very proud that our companies have become leading players on the global stage.”

Paying tribute to his leadership team and people across all the CluneTech businesses, Mr. Clune added:

“The most important thing we can do is create an empowering environment for our people to be creative and make brave decisions. My aim was for CluneTech to be a hub for technology innovation and I’m delighted to see us achieve that. Ultimately, focusing on our customers, listening to them, identifying their challenges and finding new solutions to meet those challenges, is what keeps us agile and innovative. Our success is all down to the work and dedication our people have shown since we were founded.”

With the enormous success of TransferMate and the sale of Immedis completed, the entrepreneur is now looking forward to scaling the other CluneTech businesses, with significant plans for both Sprintax and Taxback International in 2024.