From left: John Phelan, Julian Seymour and Niamh Sterling of HBAN. Image: John Ohle
For the Irish start-up ecosystem to flourish, when it comes to investors ‘we need every player on the pitch’, says HBAN.
75 new angel investors are to be recruited by the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) to invest up to €15m between them in Irish start-ups, north and south.
Since HBAN was founded, Irish-based business angels have invested more than €90m in start-ups across the island of Ireland, making angel investment an important pillar of the start-up ecosystem here.
‘We want to deliver a quality flow of pre-qualified, high-potential investments to our business angels’
– JOHN PHELAN
“In order to provide a consistent flow of investment for start-ups across the island of Ireland, we plan to recruit 75 new angels with a combined €15m available for dynamic and innovative start-ups,” said John Phelan, national director of HBAN.
“Our aim is twofold, of course, in that we also want to deliver a quality flow of pre-qualified, high-potential investments to our business angels and, for the ecosystem to function at its maximum capacity, ‘we need every player on the pitch’.”
Listen, connect, invest
The recruitment drive will begin at HBAN’s All-Island Business Angels Conference, which takes place on Thursday 14 February at Powerscourt Hotel, Co Wicklow.
Speakers at the event will include Marianne Hudson, a serial investor and executive director of Angel Capital Association, which boasts more than 14,000 business angel members. Hudson will outline the latest investment trends.
Jimmy Martin, co-founder and CEO of AMCS – an Irish company that provides software and technology for the waste, recycling and resource industries – will discuss return on investments for business angels and how new secondary markets are emerging that can facilitate this.
Also speaking will be former BT Young Scientist winner and Forbes 30 under 30 listee Shane Curran, the 18-year-old tech entrepreneur who founded security software firm qCrypt.
The conference is open to non-HBAN members who want to see how the network works, connect with HBAN angels and listen to pitches from high-potential start-ups.
