Med tech start-up exits Bank of Ireland Seed Fund with US$21m valuation
Galway med tech company neoSurgical has become the first start-up to exit the 2009 Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Fund after raising US$6m from US investor SAIG. Kernel Capital said that it has commenced the formal divestment of the 2009 Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Fund, which has a portfolio of almost […]
Enterprise Ireland is now Europe’s biggest VC fund
That was the proclamation of Frank Ryan, the former CEO of Enterprise Ireland, in 2011. While there are some who may question the State taking such a large role in startup investments, it is hard to argue with the results. Enterprise Ireland-backed companies exported over €17bn of goods and services in 2013 and the organisation […]
€85m VC fund to support Irish life sciences sector
Enterprise Ireland has invested €15m in a new life sciences venture capital fund that has the potential to create 1,000 Irish jobs. Ireland’s largest life science venture capital fund, Fountain Healthcare Partners yesterday announced the initial closing of an €85m fund — the second such fund it has raised. The Department of Jobs, through Enterprise […]
Ireland: Technology’s path from academia to commercial world needs paving
Overcoming red tape. Low returns on state investment. Conflicts of interest between industry and academia. Sound familiar? Approximately 5 per cent of university-generated technologies in the US get licensed. Public universities are under pressure to improve this figure.But this poses its own problem: a crisis of identity. Just how commercially driven should any university be? […]
First university start-up investments selected by funder techstart Northern Ireland
stablished by Invest Northern Ireland as part of its Access to Finance strategy, techstart NI is providing support for early stage technology businesses and university spin-outs. The businesses, Inflyte and Brewbot, have received over £300,000 between them aspart of a £23.6million initiative is made up of a £13m SME equity fund, two university funds of […]
University of Ulster reveals £240k Honeypot fund to boost digital content sector – Start Ups – Start-Ups
The University of Ulster has launched a new stg£240,000 seed fund designed to stimulate growth and enhance competitiveness within the digital content sector. The Honeypot seed fund is part of the Honeycomb – Creative Works initiative, a stg£3.58m skills and business development programme funded by the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Programme, managed by the Special EU […]
Two UCD Research Receive €150,000 each From ERC POC Awards
UCD researchers are the most successful Irish based researchers in the latest round of European Research Council (ERC) ‘top-up’ funding or ‘Proof of Concept’ awards. Two of the three Irish based researchers who were awarded one of the thirty-four grants announced by the ERC [today] are based at University College Dublin: Professor Frederic Dias, UCD School of Mathematical Sciences; […]
Govt pumps €21m into Enterprise Ireland fund to commercialise third-level research
The Irish Government is to pump €21m into Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund to support the commercialisation of further third-level research in 2013. The goal of the funding is to
University of Ulster launches call for proof of concept funding
The Office of Innovation is pleased to advise that the Invest NI-supported Proof of Concept Fund is available with a submission deadline of Friday 30 November 2012. As the name implies, Proof of Concept supports the final phase of the transition from laboratory to commercialisation. To be eligible for proof of concept, projects should be […]
Pension Funds a Source for Early-stage Commercialization? Silicon Valley Bank Invests in Ireland
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has announced it will lend $100 million to the Irish innovation sector as part of a new partnership with the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF). According to Reuters, SVB intends to invest in Ireland’s technology, life science, cleantech, private-equity, and venture capital businesses over the next five years.