An €85m venture-capital fund has been announced that will help high-tech firms in Ireland get off the ground.
The announcement was made by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe, and will be managed by Atlantic Bridge Partners.
O’Keeffe described the fund as a “significant boost for Ireland’s venture-capital sector, which is critical to developing scalable Irish firms”.
“The Atlantic Bridge II fund brings fresh capital to Ireland’s venture capital industry, allowing innovative high-tech firms to leverage the power of new investors in scaling their businesses and creating jobs.
“To create a thriving high-value indigenous enterprise sector, we must develop our funding base and expose high-potential Irish firms to new networks of contacts across the world,” said O’Keeffe.
International growth
The Atlantic Bridge II Fund, supported under Enterprise Ireland’s Seed and Venture Capital Programme 2007-2012, will focus on high-tech firms across Ireland and Europe with strong international growth prospects.
Over the next five to eight years, the team is expected to make investments between €5m to €20m in each firm, with communications technology, semiconductor and software firms garnering the most interest from the team.
