Image: Dogpatch Labs
Since 2007, Halo Business Angel Network has invested €177m into more than 730 start-ups across Ireland.
Dogpatch Labs has won a five-year contract to run the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) starting next month.
The start-up hub based in Dublin takes over from Furthr, formerly known as Dublin BIC, which has been running HBAN since it was first established in 2007.
HBAN is one of Europe’s leading business angel networks. Its members have invested €177m into more than 730 start-ups since its creation.
Figures released by the non-profit this week show that a record €33m was invested across the island of Ireland last year, supporting a total of 78 companies and reflecting a steady growth in angel investing across Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The organisation, which is a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland, said the number of deals also increased last year, with more than 300 HBAN angel investors making nearly 700 individual investments across 86 deals, an increase of 21pc from 2021.
Dogpatch Labs has confirmed the changing of the guard, a move that was first reported by The Business Post.
“We are excited to build on the great work done by the previous operator and look forward to sharing more about our plans in the coming weeks as we work through the transition process, alongside our partners in Northern Ireland and across Ireland,” a spokesperson told SiliconRepublic.com.
Outgoing managing director of HBAN John Phelan, who has led the network from the very beginning, wrote in a LinkedIn post that today “is a bittersweet day” as it marks the end of his tenure at the helm.
“Having been involved since the start in 2007, my primary motivation and driver was to fix the market failure of angel investing in Ireland and the goal has always been to get HBAN to €25m annual investment and, as an all-island team, we achieved €33m in 2022. Job done!” he said.
“The benchmark going forward is €33m invested in 86 deals annually. These need to be like-for-like comparisons, introducing members to new deals, audited by third parties.”
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