A Limerick-based start-up has secured a €600,000 investment to fund its expansion beyond the Irish and UK market.
The Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund committed €500,000 to the investment in ResourceKraft, with the rest of the funds raised through Enterprise Ireland.
University of Limerick post-graduate Liam Relihan and Frank Casey founded ResourceKraft in April 2007. The company provides energy management software that is aimed at helping clients maximise the efficient usage of electricity and other energy resources, such as oil, gas, water and heat.
To date, ResourceKraft’s technology has been deployed in more than 40 customer sites.
The company will be moving its headquarters to the University of Limerick campus.
ResourceKraft CEO responds to funding announcement
Commenting on the announcement, CEO of ResourceKraft Frank Casey said: “Our unique approach focuses on managing energy as a cost, providing smart decision-making tools for companies. The funding from the Bank of Ireland Seed Fund will be to recruit additional software developers to join our team and to expand our market coverage beyond Ireland and the UK.”
“This investment in ResourceKraft epitomises the type of innovation-based start-ups that the University of Limerick Foundation is keen to support through our investment in the Bank of Ireland Seed Fund. ResourceKraft was born out of scientific research carried out in UL in 2007 and creating success from university spin-outs like this one is crucial if we’re to spark new growth and job creation opportunities in Ireland,” said Don Barry, the president University of Limerick said.
Denis Minihane, regional business manager, Bank of Ireland, added: “This investment and the strong pipeline of prospects for the Bank of Ireland Seed Fund confirms our commitment to supporting domestic early stage companies developing innovative technologies that have a strong IP platform with the ability to grow.”
“ResourceKraft has developed a product suite which is very timely for the marketplace and by extracting and presenting intelligence on energy consumption and costs it leads to real energy savings. This company has a great future,” added Dr Daniel McCaughan, chief technology officer, Kernel Capital.
Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund, which was launched in November 2009, is a €26m fund that invests in start-up and early stage companies, with a focus on export-orientated high-potential start-up companies that operate in the technology (including green technology), food and financial services sectors. It is managed on behalf of Bank of Ireland and the other partners by Kernel Capital.
Photo: (Left to right) Denis Minihane, regional business manager, Bank Of Ireland; Orla Rimmington, operations manager, Kernel Capital; Prof Don Barry, president, University of Limerick; Frank Casey, CEO, ResourceKraft
Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com
