TWO DOZEN Irish software and life sciences companies pitched for international investment in London yesterday before nearly 100 venture capital (VC) firms at an event jointly organised by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Venture Capital Association.
The London gathering – the third to be held – is an attempt to create syndicated investment deals between international venture capitalists and their Irish counterparts.
“Multibillion investment funds want local partners to act as their eyes and ears. They like the idea of having someone 45 minutes away from the company that they have invested in,” said Enterprise Ireland’s Des Doyle.
The firms that made pitches yesterday included Heystaks, which recently secured €1 million worth of VC investment and which designs search-engine software; medical devices firms BiancaMed; Biosensia, Crescent Diagnostics, Embricon, Marvao Medical and Neuravi.
Peter Sandys, chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association, said: “The Irish venture capital industry has a key role to play in funding the new and growing export-focused Irish businesses that will lead us out of our current economic difficulties.
“We are telling our international VC colleagues that there are many attractive investment opportunities available in Irish companies at the present time and that the Irish VC industry is very much open for co-investment business.”
AIB executive Karl Heffernan said Ireland faced challenges, but “we have got a good story to tell”.
The VC companies present included Benchmark Capital, Amadeus Capital, Medica, Balderton Capital, Mitsui Ventures and Oxford Capital Partners, among others.
