Bank of Ireland Business Banking is to invest €6.35m in a new venture capital scheme as part of a public private partnership involving Enterprise Ireland and Kernel Capital Markets. The investment will focus on ventures across a variety of industry sectors in the Munster region.
The investment, announced today by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney TD, represents a greater emphasis on at Enterprise Ireland to create new funds in the regions. It is the second such investment in the fund that will be now known as Bank of Ireland Kernel Partners Private Equity Fund, bringing it to €19m.
The fund will be focused on early and mid-stage investments of between €300,000 and €1.5m and will be available to across a wide range of industry sectors. It is the only such fund based in Munster.
The investment is the fourth such investment by Bank of Ireland Venture Capital Fund in addition to the bank’s support of various funds managed by Delta Partners.
According to Niall Olden, founder and chief executive of Kernel Capital Partners: “The additional funds secured allow us to broaden our scope of investment beyond concentrating exclusively on ICT and to take advantage of the significant venture capital opportunities that exist in other sectors of industry.”
By John Kennedy
