Irish brothers make millions on online firm

26-03-2008

by Ciara O'Brien

Two Irish teenagers have sold their start-up to Canadian company Live Current Media for a multimillion dollar price tag.

Auctomatic, which is a tool for managing your eBay business, is reported to have sold for in the region of USD5 million, according to online sources. However, Auctomatic owners are keeping tight-lipped about the value of the deal.

The joint venture between brothers Patrick (19) and John Collison (17) from Castletroy, Limerick, and UK partners Harjeet and Kulveer Taggar was funded by American investment company Y Combinator, and early Google employees Chris Sacca and Paul Buchheit. The Auctomatic application, which was only launched in October last year, can be used to track inventory, pictures, and auction templates, and keep tabs on auction traffic.

The brothers were introduced to their UK partners by their investors. "It was a really good fit," Patrick told ENN. "They had been focusing on the seller end of things and we'd been focusing on the buyer end of things. It made sense to fit the both of them together."

Live Current Media is an international technology and media company headed by CEO Geoff Hampson. The company became interested in Auctomatic for both its online commerce technology platform and the founders' knowledge of e-commerce.

"Our long term plan was to build software for the online space. Auctomatic was just one point in that," said Patrick. "The fact that we've been acquired so early was a surprise to us, we hadn't achieved all we wanted to." However, he explained that it was too good an opportunity to turn down.

As a result of the deal, Auctomatic will join Live Current's portfolio, with the Canadian company poised to accelerate development work in the Irish start-up. Meanwhile, Patrick is set to move to Vancouver to work as Director of Engineering for Live Current Media, and John will work with Live Current during the summer, choosing to focus on his fifth year studies at Castletroy College for now.

"We went out on a bit of a limb, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the same path for anyone else," John said in a statement. "More than anything, I feel this serves as proof that anyone, at any age, can be successful if they put effort into something they're good at."