If you were within hours of being on your way to your dream job as your own boss, it’d be understandable if you were suffering from a case of nerves. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case for the 22 shortlisted companies in this year’s AIB Start-Up Academy. Selected last week from stiff competition, the Irish start-ups battled it out in front of a judges panel who selected ten companies to go forward to the final stage. Battling it out for their spot in the training academy, each pitcher on the night performed a 5 minute pitch, as well as a detailed question and answer session with the judges. It seems Ireland’s facing some exciting entrepreneurial prospects in the coming months, with business groups in food, fashion, medical and lifestyle technologies progressing through to the AIB Start-Up Academy. So who made the cut? The 2016 Start-up Academy finalists are:

• Cool Bean Company
• Nasal Medical Ltd
• Popertee
• Brendan Joseph
• Rebel Chilli
• Queezybags
• Blackwater Distillery
• Buska Ltd
• Dropchef
• Leaves

It’s not too late for one lucky company, who will be chosen by Her.ie and JOE.ie readers as the wildcard entry to enter the eight week accelerator programme. Now in its second year, the AIB Start-Up Academy will offer an intensive eight-week AIB Startup Academy programme, where one very lucky company will come out on top and receive a prize worth €250,000, comprising of; a cash injection, advertising and marketing spend, and a range of other financial and expertise support. For a lucky few, the celebrations started last night, with tweets rolling in to congratulate the first set of finalists headed to the 2016 Academy:

Thrilled that @BlackDistillery is shortlisted #backedbyAIB #LoveWaterford @AIBBiz https://t.co/ZPVWEW5EXn

— Blackwater Gin (@blackwatergin) February 5, 2016

Brilliant news for @BlackDistillery congratulations!!! #BizWaterford #backedbyAIB https://t.co/AWtuq6kn2j — Business Waterford (@BizWaterford) February 5, 2016

Well done @Queezybags branded by @wearethreesixty #backedbyAib

— threesixty (@wearethreesixty) February 5, 2016

Congrats to the final 10! It was an honor to be in the final 22! Thank you for @AIBBiz and @IrishTimesBiz for a great day.#backedbyAIB — Shoployal (@ShoployaltheApp) February 5, 2016

@IrishTimes @IrishTimesBiz Thank you so much. So deliriously happy right now. #backedbyAib

— Queezybags (@Queezybags) February 5, 2016

For more information about the Startup Academy, click here.