EV charging network start-up GoPlugable was named the overall winner of the 2023 Invent awards (Northern Ireland) yesterday.

The EV charging start-up, which was co-founded by Queen’s University Belfast graduate Maebh Reynolds in 2022, competed against nine other finalists for the title of overall winner at a ceremony held at the ICC Belfast. The Northern Irish start-up took home a prize package of £25,000 from the total prize fund of £52,000.

GoPlugable is building a network of home EV chargers where EV owners will be able to avail of neighbouring home charging points while owners of the chargers will be able to earn money by sharing access. Reynolds describes the company as “the AirBnB of electric vehicle home charging”.

Along with being named the overall winner, the start-up – which recently won an Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur award – also took the top spot in the Greentech award category.

Invent, which is run by science and tech hub Catalyst and headline partner Bank of Ireland (BOI) UK, is an annual competition that highlights and supports innovators and entrepreneurs operating in Northern Ireland.