Image: Talent Garden
Talent Garden has announced a new funding round of €44m to continue its expansion.
Talent Garden is Europe’s largest network of digital innovation hubs. In October 2018, it opened its first capital city campus in Dublin City University (DCU) Alpha, the university’s dedicated innovation campus.
It has also created a joint venture with Rainmaking Loft in Denmark, where there are now three locations in Copenhagen, with more plans for the Nordic region.
Today (11 March), Talent Garden announced a new funding round of €44m, which will help to continue its expansion around Europe. The funding round was led by TIP, Social Capital, Indaco Ventures and European family investors.
Talent Garden’s expansion plans include a particular focus on Spain, establishing campuses in new locations in Madrid and Barcelona. It also plans to expand further in Italy, Austria and France, where a new campus is already scheduled to open later this year.
The funding will also boost the company’s growth in new markets, including potential opportunities in Germany, Israel, Benelux and the CEE region. To bridge its European community with the strongest global tech ecosystems, Talent Garden is also currently working on a special campus project in San Francisco, due to open in 2020.
The hub operator added that it will expand the scope of its Innovation School, which is currently present in five countries, including at its DCU campus in Ireland. The school focuses on training in areas such as coding, blockchain and AI as well as design and leadership.
Talent Garden initially began as a co-working network. However, in 2015, the company expanded its scope of activities to include innovative education and networking events.
Talent Garden Ireland’s country manager, Mark Bennett, said the company hosts a dynamic ecosystem of digital innovation. “This is cultivated, in part, through events such as workshops, fireside chats with global tech leaders, expert advisory sessions, fundraising talks and panel debates,” he said.
“Launching Ireland’s first ever VC-in-residence programme with Brian Caulfield earlier this year is a great example of how we leverage our network for the benefit of members.”
At the launch of the Dublin hub last year, tech giant Intel announced that it would have a presence at Talent Garden by providing its own technology and a structured technical support and guidance programme to an indigenous cohort of AI/computer vision innovators.
Speaking at the opening, Talent Garden’s co-founder and CEO, Davide Dattoli, said that Ireland has “great appeal” and that Talent Garden was inspired by the country’s “nurturing and cultivating entrepreneurial environment”.
