Selatra to raise €1m in capital

A CORK company that develops advanced games for mobile phones plans to raise €1 million in venture capital to fund its expansion, delegates at a major technology investment conference in Dublin heard yesterday.

Selatra chief executive Sean Cronin said the business was well placed to attract funding and strengthen its presence in Europe, Asia, Australia and America.

Mr Cronin said the venture capital market had been difficult during the past year but saw positive signs for the future. The company, which was founded in 2002 and employs 11 people at the city’s Lough Mahon business park, recently won an award for best business opportunity from the Genesis Enterprise Programme, a business development initiative supported by Enterprise Ireland, Údarás na Gaeltachta and third-level colleges in the south and west of the country.

The company has developed relationships with over 100 customers and partners in 28 countries. It recently signed a deal to provide phone-based games to one of China’s leading mobile operators that has more than 160m customers.

Mr Cronin was speaking at the Goodbody corporate finance-sponsored SummIT 2004, which was attended by over 250 delegates from leading venture capital firms from Europe and America and featured presentations from almost 20 Irish technology start-ups.

The annual event aims to provide a platform for the international venture capitalist community to meet leading Irish technology companies. Companies presenting at the conference since its inception three years ago have raised venture capital investment totalling almost €400m.

Guest speakers at the conference included Tánaiste Mary Harney and technology experts from Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Hale and Dorr, a leading American technology law firm. The conference was told that the funding environment had improved for technology entrepreneurs and that the recovery in the technology sector would provide greater opportunity for start-up businesses.

Goodbody corporate finance director Mark O’Donovan said venture capital investment in Irish companies would increase by up to 40% this year.