Kilcullen connection to big Web Summit win

Coroflo CEO Rosanne Longmore with Paul Mulvaney, ESB Innovation Director.

The son of Des and Celia Travers is one of a team which has won the ESB 'Spark of Genius' award at the Web Summit in Lisbon, writes Brian Byrne.

Jamie Travers and his wife Dr Helen Barry, and their Coroflo startup's CEO Rosanne Longmore — a cousin of Jamie's — were awarded the €25,000 cash prize for their invention which accurately measures the amount of nutrition that a baby gets when being breast-fed. An attachment to the mother's nipple while feeding sends the information on the amount of milk taken to a smartphone app.

Traditionally the only way to ascertain how much nutrition a baby had while breast-feeding feeding was by weighing the infant before and after, a notoriously inaccurate method.

Coroflo beat off two other finalists in the competition, Electrical Analytics and Mobility Mojo.

"This is a massive achievement," Rosanne Longmore, pictured above in Lisbon yesterday with Jamie, said afterwards. "From exhibiting here at Web Summit, to pitching our product to global investors and media, this has been a game-changing opportunity for us to grow our business."

The Diary understands that big interest is being shown in the invention by major global infant nutrition companies.

The ESB Spark of Genius Award is a platform for high potential technology startups who have been in operation for less than three years.

Coroflo has previously won a €5,000 prize from Vodaphone, and Richard Branson has given the project his support.

The device is fully patented and prototyped.