Pictured: Shemas Eivers of Boole Investment Syndicate
Five companies – four of which are based in Cork – have raised €3m investment from Enterprise Ireland, venture capital companies and an angel investment syndicate.
Boole Investment Syndicate, supported by the Halo Business Angel Network and Cork Business Innovation Centre, provided €1m of investment towards the five companies.
The remaining €2m came from Enterprise Ireland and venture capital companies.
The investment will fund product development, international growth and the creation of 49 new jobs which will bring the total number of employees at the five companies to 102 by 2014.
The companies that have received investment include: Mingoa, a provider of Ethernet operations and management hardware solutions and Phorest, a provider of online booking and management software for beauty salons.
Phorest is the first joint investment between Boole Investment Syndicate and Dublin based HBAN syndicate, Bloom Equity.
The syndicate declined to name the other three companies that received investment.
Giving something back
There is currently up to €2 million available in funds from the Boole Investment Syndicate and this will help to leverage up to a further €2 million from other sources.
“The opportunities that are coming to us have improved greatly thanks to the work of HBAN and Cork BIC, as they qualify leads before we ever see them, ensuring they are a match to what we are looking for and what the companies themselves need,” Shemas Eivers of Boole Investment Syndicate explained.
“This has also had the added benefit of increasing the chances of these start-ups receiving investment, as they have been pre-qualified with all the criteria checked and verified.
“One of the great advantages of investing with a syndicate is the trust you develop with one another and having people from different industry sectors to advise on any deal. We are now seeking new Cork based investors to help us grow our pool of angel funds and experience. We have some excellent new companies coming through seeking our help and finance,” Eivers said.
Michael Culligan, national director, HBAN said that there is a growing desire among investors, who may have grown and exited their own company or are managing significant businesses, to reinvest in young Irish businesses and give back some of the knowledge they picked up along the way.
“We are seeing increased investment in high potential start-ups this year, despite the wider economic downturn. We are always looking to speak with potential new investors and introduce them to angel syndicates and investment opportunities,” Culligan said.
