From Coffee to Space: Aoife Kelly on Building Celtonn Through Community, Collaboration and Ambition

In this episode of NovaVoices, Liam Cronin, Director of Innovation at UCD, talks to Aoife Kelly, Chief Operations Office and co-founder of Celtonn, a deep-tech start-up designing and manufacturing components for satellites and developing semiconductor technology to enable high data rates for 6G communications. Aoife shares the story of how Celtonn began over a coffee, bringing together a founding team with a decade of shared experience and a strong foundation of trust. She discusses her journey from marketing and project management into entrepreneurship, shaped by experiences including participating on Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers programme, and the Cassini Business Accelerator along with international study in China. The conversation explores the parallels between competitive sport, including her love of cycling, and entrepreneurship, from resilience and discipline to teamwork and showing up when things get difficult. Aoife also outlines how she and her fellow co-founders are building a company culture based on trust, equal shareholding, flexibility and long-term commitment. Aoife also explains why the team chose to locate at NovaUCD, the importance of proximity to technical talent and other ambitious founders in building a deep-tech space start-up and the challenges of translating complex engineering into a compelling investment story. The episode also covers Celtonn’s €1.5 million fundraising round, international growth ambitions across Europe and Asia, the importance of strategic partnerships with Enterprise Ireland and the European Space Agency. ….and in a personal twist Aoife talks about the unique dynamics and sharing the highs and lows of starting a cutting-edge company with her dad, Mark. Tune in now to a conversation about deep tech, space, 6G, entrepreneurship, fundraising, leadership, community, and what it takes to build a globally ambitious technology company from Dublin. 🔗 Learn more about how NovaUCD can support your start-up: https://www.ucd.ie/innovation/start-u... Chapters: 0:00 Introduction & Founding Story 1:18 Entrepreneurial Background 2:31 Studying in China 3:22 Sports & Business Mindset 4:50 Cycling Career & Discipline 6:45 Team Values & Culture 8:07 Relocating to NovaUCD 8:54 Fundraising & Investor Relations 11:10 Future Vision & Growth 12:54 Co-founding with Family 13:57 Strategic Partnerships 15:02 Accelerator Programmes 16:33 Closing & Wrap-up