ICC Venture Capital has introduced a dedicated fund to capitalise on the Republic's booming software industry. The State-owned bank claims the £100 million (€127 million) fund is the largest of its type. To date, ICC has raised £25 million and is confident the remaining £75 million will be forthcoming from Irish and overseas pension funds and institutions. The ICC Software 2000 Fund will be modelled on an earlier fund, which concentrated on companies developing technologies rather than retail products, according to Mr David Fassbender, the managing director of ICC Venture Capital.

The bank's first software venture capital fund, which was launched in 1996 together with Enterprise Ireland, is now showing a return of more than 40 per cent. It invested in a number of firms, including Aldiscon and Horizon Technologies.