MICROSOFT HAS taken a 15 per cent stake in a new Irish software venture which is headed up by technology entrepreneur Pat Brazel.
Zignals provides technology that alerts investors in real time about equity news.
Microsoft's IP Ventures team has licensed the software giant's Microsoft Solver Foundation to Zignals and provided other assistance in exchange for the equity stake. Although Microsoft has previously licensed technology to Irish start-ups this is the first time it has backed a new start-up and taken an equity stake.
Zignals has raised €2.5 million from Manresa Partners, angel investors, Enterprise Ireland and management. Mr Brazel was chief executive of banking software firm Eontec when it was sold to US company Siebel Systems for $100 million (€64 million) - one of the largest prices ever paid for an Irish software company.
David Harnett, a senior director with Microsoft IP Ventures, said he had been introduced to Mr Brazel at an event in Dublin two years ago by Enterprise Ireland.
"We worked together for six months and realised there was an opportunity to put our technology together," said Mr Harnett. Zignals will address the gap in the market between high net-worth individuals whose portfolio is managed by brokers and day traders who spend all their time online looking for information, according to chief technology officer and co-founder Scott Tattersall.
Zignals software allows investors to track stocks traded on the Irish Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Euronext.
