500,000 users downloaded Soundwave in three months

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Tom Lyons

Dublin-based start-up Soundwave, a social music discovery mobile application, has hit 500,000 downloads in the three months since it launched.

Brendan O'Driscoll, co-founder and chief executive, said his company planned to double its headcount from 10 people to over 20 as its mobile app takes-off in markets as diverse as Russia, India, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Ireland.

"We're looking at a move into a larger office," O'Driscoll said. He said he planned to hire additional staff at Dubstarts – a tech-start-ups job fair in Dublin on October 29.

O'Driscoll, who features in today's Sunday Independent 'Top 30 under 30' list, said that Dublin had the "eco-system" now to help young tech entrepreneurs. "People are open and willing to help each other," he said, "and we've great accelerators like Wayra and NDRC LaunchPad turn good ideas into businesses."

O'Driscoll said Soundwave's focus was on building its user base but it was also working on a dashboard for bands, labels and radio stations to allow them to work out in a hyper-local way what music people were listening to.