Initiatives to give start-ups funding boost

Limerick Institute of Technology has unveiled two major funding initiatives to help companies get off the ground.

Michael Noonan, the finance minister, announced the creation of a privately generated €1m enterprise ladder fund, a seed fund to support start-up businesses in the Mid-West.

Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley company set up by Irish business leaders in the US has linked up with the institute to locate in the college campus to give financial support to emerging high-tech companies.

Announcing the €1m seed fund, Mr Noonan said start-up companies already in the institute’s existing enterprise centres could expect to receive sums ranging from €10,000 to €25,000.

The institute has secured €350,000 of the target €1m from donors including Analog Devices, Grant Thornton, Holmes O’Malley Sexton, BDO, Limerick Chamber of Commerce, Ryan Group Holdings, and the JP McManus Foundation. The remainder of the fund will be secured by the end of the year though tax incentive schemes.

Mr Noonan said start-ups were “key” to the country’s recovery and that the fund would provide support to companies as they tried to get off the ground.

Institute president Maria Hinfelaar said the fund was all about supporting entrepreneurship and stimulating job creation. “The enterprise ladder fund is the institute’s response to the funding challenge for small, start-up businesses in a diversity of sectors and we look forward to supporting many of them long into the future with this initiative.”

Also yesterday, Irish Technology Capital said it was to locate its European headquarters at the institute.

The group was set up by technology entrepreneur John Hartnett and MacroVision founder John Ryan.

Niall O’Connor, CIO of Apple, and Rory McInerney, vice-president of R&D at Intel, are investors.

Irish Technology Capital will become Limerick’s first venture capital company, providing a major stimulus and opportunity for emerging companies in the sector.

Mr Hartnett said: “Through our involvement with Limerick we have seen first-hand some outstanding examples of young technology companies and, based on this, we believe that there is definitely the level of innovation and enterprise required for emerging companies here to develop into extremely successful global operations.”