ENTERPRISE EQUITY and Silicon Valley-based Irish Technology Capital (ITC) have formed a partnership to raise a $100-million (€72 million) venture capital firm that will accelerate the expansion of Irish firms into the US.
John Hartnett, founder and chief executive of ITC, said the two investment firms were currently fundraising but had “identified funds” that would contribute to the $100 million total.
Enterprise Equity is an Irish venture capital firm which has invested €50 million in more than 70 companies in the last decade.
Focusing on deals of up to €1.5 million, it manages the €53 million AIB Seed Capital Fund.
ITC is an off-shoot of the Irish Technology Leadership Group, a group of Irish and Irish-American technology executives in Silicon Valley who have come together to help Irish start-ups establish themselves in the US.
Mr Hartnett will take an executive role with the new ITC partnership, as will Richard Moran, a former partner with Venrock, the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family.
Conor O’Connor, chief executive of Enterprise Equity, will also have an operational and investment role with the new partnership.
Mr Hartnett said the two firms would try and tap into investment from the Government’s Innovation Fund Ireland, which has €250 million from the National Pension Reserve Fund and Enterprise Ireland to co-invest with the private sector.
The innovation fund hopes to attract international investors to establish Irish operations; DFJ Espirit opened an Irish office recently as a result.
“A lot of big Silicon Valley investors find it hard enough leaving San Francisco never mind getting on a plane for 20 hours to Ireland,” said Mr Hartnett.
“The way to get them involved is through syndication.”
He said ITC would invest between $500,000 and $5 million in Irish firms which would enable them to attract Tier 1 US venture capitalists for later rounds of investment.
Mr O’Connor said that in his experience, Irish start-ups could spend months or even years trying to find the right executive in multinational companies to make a purchasing decision on their projects.
By partnering with experienced Silicon Valley executives, he added, this process could be short-circuited.
