The Irish Government has issued a call for co-investors for the remaining €20m available for co-investment in seed and venture capital funds via Enterprise Ireland’s Seed and Venture Capital Programme.
In particular, the Government’s enterprise agency is on the lookout for co-investors who have the ability to access private-sector and institutional capital in Ireland and overseas to support innovative Irish start-ups focused on what it termed “go fast to market” strategies.
Advertisements will apparently be appearing in national Irish newspapers this week seeking co-investors for this funding.
The €20m itself is what is remaining under the Enterprise Ireland Seed and Venture Capital Programme (2007-2012). To date, close to €155m of the total €175m under Enterprise Ireland’s Seed and Venture Capital Programme has been committed to 11 seed and venture funds.
The agency said today that these 11 funds have in excess of €630m under management for investment in early stage and growing companies.
Enterprise Ireland said it is aiming to make commitments to fund managers focused on assisting investee companies to ‘go fast to market’ and assisting in attracting international syndicates of investors with this remaining €20m.
Just last week, the agency launched its Enterprise Ireland Seed and Venture Capital Programme 2011 report. At the time, Enterprise Ireland’s head of investment services Niall O’Donnellan said access to capital played an important part in the strong performance by Irish exporting companies in 2011.
Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Richard Bruton, TD, spoke about how venture capital funds and their importance for high-potential start-ups (HPSUs).
“They are critical in helping to bridge the funding gap for Irish companies and ensuring that these companies can continue to grow and create jobs in Ireland,” he said.
Bruton said the additional €20m of Government funds would be a “great boost” to the venture capital industry in Ireland and to HPSUs.
Venture capital image via Shutterstock
