Two indigenous technology firms have raised more than €13 million (£10.24 million) despite the volatile state of the high-tech sector.

Interactive Services, a provider of e-learning solutions to the telecoms industry, said it had secured venture capital funding worth €10 million from a range of investors.

Most was provided by ACT Venture Capital, UK-based Barclays Ventures and Enterprise Ireland.

The company did not disclose how much equity was taken by the new investors, but sources said it was close to 30 per cent.

A number of private investors also invested. These include Mr Gilbert Little, founder of Aldiscon, and Mr Larry Quinn, chairman of Logica Mobile Networks, who joined the board.

Interactive Services will use the money to transform itself from a technology services company to one which builds, markets and sells products to US and European clients.

Mr Garrette Byrne, chief executive, said this process had already started and staff had doubled to 180 since December.

Interactive Services recorded turnover of €4.3 million last financial year and was on course to double turnover this year, said Mr Byrne.

The company, which has been profitable since its foundation in 1993, will slip into loss-making due to the shift in strategy. But it is expected to return to profitability by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Dublin-based technology firm Havok said yesterday it had raised £2.7 million and signed a licensing deal worth £2 million.

Havok's physics technology determines the motion and behaviour of objects and characters on-screen in video games. Its technology is being used for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Havok said it signed a $2 million (€2.3 million) deal with Autodesk and other deals with Macromedia and Intel to provide the physics technology for their Shockwave platform.