Business

Cork tech firm raises €25m in funding round

Screendragon’s founders to remain with the firm

Screendragon has secured €25m in an investment round that will drive the expansion of its business

Ciara O'Brien
Tue Feb 6 2024 - 01:00

Cork-based Screendragon has secured €25 million in an investment round that will drive the expansion of its business and its Irish workforce. The funding round was led by Kennet Partners, an international growth equity that typically targets so-called bootstrapped companies with little outside investment and puts in between €10 million and €30 million, alongside Federated Hermes Private Equity.

Screendragon is a software-as-a-service based workflow automation company that works with the agency and marketing sectors, automating complex workflows and connecting distributed teams to help them plan, create and deliver content efficiently.

Founders John Briggs, Jan Quant and Fergus Ashe will remain at the head of the company, with executive chairman Clive Sirkin taking on the role of chairman on the new board of directors. Kennet director Cillian Hilliard, Kennet managing director Michael Elias, and Fidel Manolopoulos, partner and co-head of EMEA investment at Federated Hermes Private Equity, will also join Screendragon’s board of directors, with an independent board member to be named shortly.

“Jan, Fergus, Clive and I vetted several investment firms over many months for possible investment,” said John Briggs, co-CEO and founder of Screendragon. “Kennet Partners has a proven track record of growing successful businesses. We are looking forward to using this investment and adding resources to accelerate sales, product roadmap, and growth objectives while continuing to deliver the innovative technology and support our existing clients have come to expect.”

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Some of the funds raised will be used to strengthen its Irish operations, doubling staff to its Cork operations, where it currently has a team of 60 people. Yet among future plans for the company is a stronger emphasis on the US market, where the company has already built up its business.

“The great thing about Screendragon is 50 per cent of its revenue was already coming from the US, all selling remotely from Ireland,” said Mr Hilliard. “So we feel that we can create a team there and continue to increase that.”

Screendragon represents Kennet’s first Irish investment, with around €17 million committed to the Cork company. The international investor also brings knowledge, contacts and investment to SaaS companies with the potential for growth.

“We’ve got a concentrated portfolio, 10 to 15 investments,” said Mr Hilliard. “We get involved with all the companies – sit on the board, we’ll bring in a team we worked with before, bring in independent board members, some real experts.”

Among its previous investments are Jiminny, Nudge, and Provar Testing, but Mr Hilliard said the company hopes to make further Irish investments from its fund. “It is a precursor,” said Mr Hilliard. “We’re very focused on Ireland.”

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist

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