By Business & Finance 
Panti Bliss was an outstanding MC at the eir Spiders 2016
TenderScout won the Grand Prix award at 2016 eir Spider Awards on Wednesday night, while Jules Coleman of Hassle.com picked up the Internet Hero award.
This year’s coveted eir Spider Grand Prix has been awarded to TenderScout. TenderScout is an online service based in the cloud that aims to help SMEs win tenders so they can have a better chance of securing a contract.
Celebrating their 21st year, the eir Spider Awards, hosted by Panti Bliss, recognise businesses and community organisations across the Island of Ireland for their creativity and innovation, and provide an important opportunity to recognise and showcase online excellence.
TenderScout provides decision-making information about buyers, competitors and tenders, and identifies partners that will enable companies to be successful. With a background in IT, CEO and founder, Tony Corrigan got the idea for TenderScout in 2010 when he was working as a tender consultant to government and SMEs.
First-hand experience of the pain sales teams experience when competing for public contracts led Tony to pioneer the intelligent technology solutions that increase win-rates for small-mid-market firms.
TenderScout’s ambitious plan to be a €35m business within five years and the dominant force in bid management technology solutions made them stand out for the judging panel as a front runner for the eir Spider Grand Prix award.
Jules Coleman was presented with the Internet Hero award, which is one of the most important awards of the eir Spider Awards. Formerly a management consultant, Jules taught herself to code and built the initial prototype of Hassle.com – a domestic cleaning marketplace start-up, going on to build the business into one of the largest European players in the industry.
Before exiting to Helpling, Hassle.com had raised in excess of $6m and had grown the team to over 70 full-time employees.
Other notable winners include Best in eRetail for Littlewoods; Best in News Publishing and Entertainment for the Lovin Group and the Dublin Well-Woman Clinic in the Charity/Not For Profit Sector.
Established in 1996, the eir Spider Awards are the longest standing digital awards in Ireland – considered an important benchmark for distinction and excellence in web-based business strategies. Previous winners have been on the cutting edge of their chosen fields and have gone on to great success in their respective industries.
Commenting on the winners, Lisa Kelly, head of Marketing, eir Business and chairperson for the eir Spider Awards judging panel, said: “eir Business has been spearheading the Spider Awards for decades and we continue to be astounded with the standard and level of entries and this year is no exception. We are delighted to be awarding such innovative and interesting businesses both start-ups and more established businesses. Irish digital businesses are positioning themselves as global leaders in the digital space and the 2016 winners are testament to that.”
