Making it Work

Axonista targets the US as companies buy into interactive online marketing

Company which enables live-streaming shopping was started in 2010, now employs 48 people and is targeting the lucrative US market

Daragh Ward, chief technology officer, and Claire McHugh, chief executive of Axonista: ‘We were very early to market. We started as a digital innovation agency, tapping into an emerging market opportunity around smartphones and tablets.’

Claire McHugh has her time working in Setanta Sports to thank for seeing the potential for brands to have greater engagement with video content. Along with Daragh Ward, her co-founder, she set up Axonista, which enables live-streaming shopping as a sales channel for brands, in 2010.

The firm, which is headquartered in Dublin, has clients including QVC and Virgin Media, and employs 48 staff.

“We were very early to market and we knew it. We started as a digital innovation agency, tapping into an emerging market opportunity around smartphones and tablets, and the tech that came with that like faster internet and video compression,” McHugh told the Business Post.