Dogpatch Labs and Ormeau Baths awarded HBAN contract

11 May 2023

Image: Dogpatch Labs

The two hubs in Dublin and Belfast will be helped by regional hubs including Portershed, Republic of Work and the RDI Hub.

It has been confirmed that HBAN 2.0 will be run by Dogpatch Labs and Belfast’s Ormeau Baths in partnership with an all-island network of hubs.

The Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) was established in 2007 by Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland an all-island network to promote business angel investment. Before the latest contract, HBAN was run by Futhr, formerly known as Dublin BIC.

The regional network of hubs that will help Dogpatch and Ormeau run HBAN 2.0 includes Portershed in Galway, Republic of Work in Cork and Tipperary, and the RDI Hub in Kerry.

One of Europe’s leading business angel networks, HBAN members have invested €177m into more than 730 start-ups since its creation. The network set a record last year after investors within the network invested €33m across 78 companies based in the island of Ireland.

The organisation said in March that the number of deals also increased last year, with more than 300 HBAN angel investors making nearly 700 individual investments across 86 deals, an increase of 21pc from 2021.

HBAN 2.0 will be led by two experienced directors. The new all-island director, Ciaran Gilsenan, was previously responsible for the NDRC portfolio of 200 start-ups with 75 transactions and multiple exits over the last 3 years.

Suzanne Mills, syndicate director HBAN 2.0, was one of two founding directors of NDRC 2.0 and was previously a vice-president at Morgan Stanley London where she led the design and delivery of a global derivatives platform.

Gilsenan said the vision of HBAN’s latest iteration is to deliver “a new era for angel investing, both north and south”.

“Supported by the existing angel network and syndicates, including some of Ireland’s top entrepreneurs, we are committed to providing the highest levels of service for this ever-growing angel network, while enhancing their capacity to deploy early-stage funding,” he said.

One of the priorities of HBAN 2.0 is increasing the participation of women in angel investment.

“We believe diversity of investors and investments is key to a thriving ecosystem,” said Mills.

“50 leading women entrepreneurs and domain experts have endorsed our approach and we plan to launch a new women-led syndicate in the first year. We’ll also be operating specific education classes tailored to encourage greater participation.”

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Vish Gain is a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com