Enterprise Ireland investment in start-ups surpasses €31m in 2017

Organisation reveals new €500,000 fund

Ellie Donnelly

Enterprise Ireland last year invested €31m in start-ups.

In addition, the state agency responsible for the development and growth of Irish companies in global markets, supported a total of 181 “highly promising” start-up companies, 55pc of which were based outside of Dublin.

Investment in the companies was provided through Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-Up (HSPU) and Competitive Start Fund (CSFs) programmes, which are funded by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation.

At its annual Start-Up Showcase event in Croke Park today, attended by over 600 companies, investors and representatives of the start-up ecosystem, the agency also announced a new €500,000 CSF for regionally based start-ups.

This is the second CSF call of the year, and will open for applications to all start-ups based outside of Dublin on Tuesday 27 February.

The fund will provide up to €50,000 in equity funding for up to 10 successful applicants, and applications for funding will close at 3pm on 13 March.

Overall, female-led start-ups accounted for just over one third of the agency’s start-up investments in 2017, while 15 of the companies were spun out from the third-level sector.

Looking to the rest of 2018, the agency said that it would be putting particular focus on the MarineTech and DeepTech sectors, which Enterprise Ireland said it sees as "strategically important."

"Our focus for 2018 is on the quality start-ups that we engage with, both in Ireland and internationally," Joe Healy, of Enterprise Ireland, said.

"Our strategic objective is to scale more of these start-ups more quickly. These start-ups must have potential to scale and have a plan to credibly expand in international markets. We are also focusing on spin-outs from research which have higher than average success rates."