Gerry Maguire. Image: Chris Bellew/Fennell Photography
Maguire said his appointment comes at a ‘critical time’ for Ireland’s indigenous tech sector and economy.
The Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) has appointed Gerry Maguire, co-founder and general partner of Atlantic Bridge, as its new chair.
Maguire replaces outgoing chair Denise Sidhu, partner at Kernel Capital, who has completed her term in office.
The IVCA represents venture capital and private equity firms in Ireland. According to the body headquartered in Dublin, venture capital investment into Irish tech start-ups and SMEs exceeded €1.3bn last year.
An electronic engineer by background, Maguire co-founded Atlantic Bridge in 2004. His current focus is on investments in Atlantic Bridge Fund IV, a €260m growth equity fund, and the Atlantic Bridge University Bridge Fund, a €60m fund aimed at spin-outs from Irish third-level institutions.
Atlantic Bridge is a significant Irish investor in a broad range of tech sectors, from cybersecurity and semiconductors to AI and even quantum computing. The firm, which marks 20 years in business this year, has more than €1bn in assets under management with offices across Dublin, London, Paris, Munich and Palo Alto.
Before joining Atlantic Bridge, Maguire was vice-president of R&D at Parthus Technologies which was floated on Nasdaq in 2000. Prior to this, he worked with several international technology companies including Philips in the UK and S3 Group in Ireland.
Maguire said his election as chair of the IVCA comes at a “critical time” for Ireland’s indigenous tech sector and the economy in general. This is because of global geopolitical uncertainties, Ireland’s overreliance on both international venture capital investors and vulnerability to multinational corporation tax – something Sidhu had previously warned about.
“In the first quarter of 2024, international funding into Irish SMEs fell by 57pc to €184m from €425m last year,” he said after his appointment announcement today (7 August).
“While we are developing innovative, exciting, indigenous technology start-ups we must put in place mechanisms to source private capital to scale them up to international winners.”
Last month, IVCA director-general Sarah-Jane Larkin said Irish tech start-ups often “fall into overseas ownership” due to trade sales long before they have “reached their potential”.
“Ireland has huge potential to create a stable of unicorns, and baby unicorns if the scaling problem can be tackled,” Larkin said.
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