A Galway-native woman has established a new group that aims to bring Irish luxury brands to international markets.
Ashley McDonnell has launched VYKO group, which is aiming to raise €50m to support its first acquisitions by the end of 2026.
Ms. McDonnell says premium Irish brands have struggled to scale to a global market worth over €350bn for a variety of reasons.
These include fragmented distrubtion, limited access to capital, and the lack of a domestic group structure.
VYKO is now poised to fill these gaps - by creating a central platform for Irish luxury products to compete with global brands.
Ms. McDonnell's career spans senior roles with leading global organisations including LVMH in Paris, Google in Dublin, and Puig in Geneva, where she worked on scaling brands through digital, media, and e-commerce strategy.
