The Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) has appointed investment professional Regina Breheny its new director general. She takes up the reins at a time when the need for Irish venture capitalists to create a larger funding pool has never been greater.
Over the past 20 years Breheny has worked in banking and investment including institutional fund management and stockbroking. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and an associate of the Institute of Taxation and of the Society of Investment Analysts.
The IVCA, which was established in 1985, represents members who professionally manage more than 95pc of the €1bn managed by VC funds in Ireland.
Breheny joins the organisation at a defining moment in the history of VC in Ireland. In June it emerged that despite managing more than €1bn in funds, the level of investment in 2004 by Irish venture capitalists into Irish companies was €61m, compared with a whopping €255m in 2003. At the time the IVCA report labelled the fall-off in investment as disappointing.
It was revealed at the time that the amount of new funds raised in 2004 was €47m compared with €60m in 2003. All of this is a pale reflection on the last major funding raising in 2001/2002 when some €411m was raised.
By John Kennedy
