CorkBIC and its Business Angel Partnership hosted the first CorkBIC International Entrepreneurship Venture Academy, a day-long boot camp to get 10 start-ups to an investor-ready stage.
Ten pre-selected entrepreneurs from start-up or scaling companies got the opportunity to gain intensive feedback to get them to the level of investor readiness.
Awards were given on the best presentation, most investible person and most-improved pitch.
Participants also gained insight through panel sessions given by successful entrepreneurs. Bill Liao, entrepreneur and co-founder of social networking service XING was part of the first keynote Q&A.
“It is great to see so many innovative ideas in one place. It just shows that there is no shortage of entrepreneurs in Ireland,” said Liao.
“It is also encouraging to see the variety of experts and investors who participated, ensuring the companies are delivering the right pitch for potential investors, and it would be great to see these stories being told more widely,” he said.
Other experts speaking included Eoin O’Driscoll, chairman of the board of Forfas, Juliana Garaizar, who runs the Sophia Business Angels network in the south of France and Declan Fox, entrepreneur, technologist and business coach.
“There is a vibrant private equity market emerging in Ireland and even though we are in a recession, a small group of high net-worth individuals who have an appetite for risk and have cash are looking for investment,” said Michael O’Connor, CEO of CorkBIC.
“As a result, the Business Angel Partnership is on course in Ireland to do over 20 deals this year.”
