The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, has today announced that up to €44 million is being made available for co-investment in Seed and early stage growth companies, and through Enterprise Ireland has issued an open competitive call to fund managers to signal their interest in establishing Funds. This investment will leverage private sector funding to create a pool of capital to support the growth ambitions of high potential companies.

Enterprise Ireland is inviting expressions of interest from Funds to meet the venture capital demand from high potential start-ups. Funds that can demonstrate an ability to raise capital and support company growth are invited to make a submission under this call.

Enterprise Ireland is interested in Funds that will invest in areas that reflect its key strategic growth sectors to include food, software, fintech, General ICT, services, cleantech and lifesciences.

This is the third competitive call under the Seed & Venture Capital Scheme (2013-18). The launch of this call is a key action under the Action Plan for Jobs Programme to support Irish start-ups and complements the other funding initiatives that have been established by Government. In 2016, Enterprise Ireland client companies created 19,244 new jobs in Ireland. Continued support for these enterprises will underpin increased job creation in the future.

Today’s announcement marks the delivery of a key commitment under the Action Plan for Jobs. To date, €131 million of the total €175 million committed under the Seed & Venture Capital Scheme (2013-18) has been secured with several Funds having already successfully reached their funding targets.

Making the announcement, Minister Mitchell O’Connor TD, said: “It is well recognised that early stage, growth oriented companies create a significant proportion of the new jobs in the Irish economy, and that supporting this emerging cohort of companies requires a broad range of innovative initiatives. Today’s announcement of a further €44m in funding from Enterprise Ireland, to be leveraged by additional private sector funding, will assist with the development of the next generation of high potential companies emerging from Ireland, and complement all policies of investment in jobs by this Government.”

Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, said: “At Enterprise Ireland, we acknowledge the importance of a supportive investor landscape to create and scale businesses across a range of sectors. This landscape has been building through our Seed & Venture Capital Schemes over the last 20 years. To date, private sector sources have raised over three and half times the funding already secured through Enterprise Ireland under the current Seed & Venture Capital Scheme (2013-18) and this will ensure a healthy supply of investment capital for high potential start-up companies. These businesses will contribute significantly to the Irish economy through the creation of high value, sustainable jobs and global export growth.”