Millionaire Auctomatic founder aces leaving cert

Brothers Patrick Collison (left) and John Collison (right)

13th August 2009

John Collison, founder of the software company Auctomatic, which he sold for more than €3 million last year, got eight A1s in his Leaving Cert yesterday, it has emerged.

Hailing from Monaleen, Co Limerick, Collison was one of 11 Leaving Cert students in the country to achieve this result.

Winner of the Esat BT Young Scientist of the Year competition in 2005, Collison founded Auctomatic with his brother when he was in transition year.

Auctomatic is a tool for managing users' eBay business. It can be used to track inventory, pictures, and auction templates, and track the traffic on your auctions so you can optimize your listing strategy.

The company received backing from a number of private investors in Silicon Valley after the teenagers were refused funding in Ireland. Collison famously highlighted his difficulties in acquiring funding from Enterprise Ireland on The Late Late Show on RTE and recently featured in another RTE production Young, Irish and Wealthy presented by Craig Doyle.

Last year, the Limerick brothers accepted a $5 million (€3.2 million) offer for their company from Canadian firm, Live Current Media. A student at Castletroy College in Limerick, Collison is planning to study science at Harvard University in Boston.

Pictured above: Brothers Patrick Collison (left) and John Collison (right)