Civant, the Dundalk-based procurement intelligence company, has been named one of three Business-to-Business finalists for Connacht and Leinster in Seedcorn, InterTradeIreland's all-island investor-readiness competition, recognising Civant's mission to give suppliers earlier sight of public-sector opportunities across Europe. Civant will pitch in Athlone on 15 October for a €50,000 regional prize and a place in the all-island semi-finals.
The race is half over before it starts
Public contracts are worth billions across Europe, but suppliers are expected to compete for them with very little warning. By the time a tender is published, the buyer has often already shaped its requirements, leaving suppliers less time to understand the buyer, take part in legitimate pre-market engagement and prepare properly.
Civant was built to fix that. Its platform combines procurement history, contract lifecycle data, buyer behaviour and public market signals to forecast likely opportunities, so suppliers can prepare before a tender is published rather than scrambling after it. Each forecast retains its supporting evidence, and Civant evaluates those forecasts against what is subsequently published and awarded. Separate buyer and competitor intelligence helps suppliers decide where they are best placed to compete.
Why it matters for the tech sector
The IT and technology sector is project-driven and buyer-led. Universities, hospitals, councils and government bodies buy through public procurement, and integrators, manufacturers and software providers depend heavily on the timing of those contracts. Renewal cycles, refresh programmes and framework expiries often follow patterns, but they can be difficult for suppliers to identify early enough to act. Civant brings those signals together so commercial teams can act earlier.
“We chose Civant as the backbone of our move from Finland into Western Europe. It lets us build the right buyer relationships months before the tender.”
Jukka Sormunen, RDI Director at Mobie
Civant currently supports Ireland, the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Finland, Belgium and Germany. Founded in 2025, Civant has already secured paying customers across Europe, providing early commercial evidence for its procurement intelligence proposition. Every current plan includes all eight supported countries, giving smaller suppliers a practical way to explore cross-border opportunities alongside larger industry players.
From one founder's frustration to paying customers
Civant grew from a problem David Manrique had experienced first-hand over fifteen years in B2B sales, including public procurement: a good opportunity is useful only if you find it in time to act. Today Civant has paying customers across Europe and support from Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Office Louth and the DkIT New Frontiers Phase 2 programme. Civant's ambition is to help define the future of European procurement intelligence.
What Seedcorn means
Seedcorn, run by cross-border trade body InterTradeIreland, is an all-island investor-readiness competition with a total prize fund of €800,000. Entrants compete across Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer and Deep Tech categories, receiving expert feedback and exposure to investors. Each regional winner receives €50,000 without giving up equity. The 2026 competition concludes with its all-island final and awards ceremony on 12 November.
Seedcorn mirrors a real investment process. Judges assess growth potential, the management team and the company's ability to build a significant business. For a young company like Civant, non-dilutive funding of this kind means the freedom to invest in growth on its own terms. If successful at the regional final, Civant will use Seedcorn funding to expand into additional European markets, invest in R&D to strengthen its forecasting models, add data and engineering capacity, and accelerate customer acquisition. These priorities reflect Civant's commitment to delivering actionable procurement intelligence to more suppliers across Europe.
“Seedcorn is particularly meaningful to me because Civant started with a very simple frustration: companies are expected to compete for public contracts when, by the time a tender is published, much of the real opportunity has already passed.”
“Reaching the regional final feels like an important external vote of confidence. Seedcorn forces you to interrogate the opportunity, the model and the evidence. We're still early, and there's a huge amount of work ahead, but it tells me people outside our immediate circle can see the scale of the problem and what we're building around it. As an Irish company building for the European market, having that recognised through an all-island programme makes it mean even more.”
David Manrique, Founder and CEO of Civant
About Civant
Civant is a procurement intelligence platform with forecasting at its core, helping suppliers identify likely opportunities, decide where to compete and prepare before formal tenders are published. Founded by David Manrique and registered in Ireland, Civant serves supplier sales and bid teams across Europe.
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