Dublin city. Image: © Lukas/Stock.adobe.com
As it rings in the 25th anniversary of the Seed and Venture Capital scheme, Enterprise Ireland has released the latest edition of its annual report. So what did we learn?
The four Seed and Venture Capital schemes backed by Enterprise Ireland have invested a cumulative total of €1.34bn from 1996 to 2018, according to the latest edition of the Seed and Venture Capital report.
In the report released last week (28 June), Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon praised the resiliency of Irish businesses that have continued to deliver amid increasing Brexit uncertainty.
“Through their commitment to innovation and diversification, Irish companies are generating greater demand for their goods and services throughout the world,” Sinnamon continued.
“These companies are bringing increasing levels of innovation and excellence to their sectors and building Ireland’s reputation in the global economy.”
The report also noted that in the year 2018, these Enterprise Ireland schemes supported more than 80 Irish-based companies with a total investment value of more than €72m. This brings the total number of Irish businesses the schemes have supported up to more than 500.
In 2018, Enterprise Ireland supported 82 high-potential start-ups, while 42 Irish companies received angel investment through HBAN. To date, the report further adds, Enterprise Ireland has supported more than 60 funds to date.
The latest figures
Between 2013 and 2018, Enterprise Ireland invested in 289 companies, 47.88pc of which were in the scaling stage. Almost 20pc were classified as being as in the start-up stage and 32.57pc were deemed early-stage.
More than 30pc of investments were awarded to companies based in Dublin city and county, while almost 8pc were awarded to those based in the west. After that point, sector-by-sector breakdown drops off, with regions such as the midlands, the south-west and the border all coming in at less than 1pc. The majority of investments in the regional breakdown were classed as ‘other’ (58.04pc).
In terms of sector, the largest share of investment made through these funds from 2013 to 2018 was awarded to software companies (36.97pc). This was followed by life sciences (22.88pc) and electronics (17.33pc).
You can view the full report here.
