Venture capital to pick up says firm

IRISH entrepreneurs can look forward to a significant pick-up in investment by venture capitalists this year, according to a leading corporate finance firm.

Goodbody corporate finance director Mark O’Donovan said the quality of start-up technology companies in Ireland was strong and that they were capable of attracting over €100 million in venture capital finance this year.

This would be a 40% increase on last year’s activity and would compare favourably with expected increases in venture capital investment of between 20% and 25% in America and continental Europe.

Mr O’Donovan was speaking before today’s SummIT 2004 annual conference in Dublin, which aims at venture capitalists looking to invest in Irish technology start-ups.

The conference will attract over 200 representatives from venture capital firms from America, Britain and the continent. SummIT 2004 is among the top 10 conferences of its kind in Europe.