Development capital gap hits firms

A shortage of development capital is hindering the formation of billion dollar indigenous Irish start-ups according to the CEO of Enterprise Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland’s CEO Julie Sinnamon said that there was a gap in the funding landscape in Ireland that meant that a lot of Irish entrepreneurs had to go abroad to get capital to further their companies.

“The area where there has been a gap is in the development capital side, so you have gotten through the seed stage and you are trying to get the next round and there hasn’t been as much money in Ireland, now in a way that has been good because they link in with smart capital in other countries and a number of those funds have not been supported to come into Ireland,” she told the audience of start-ups at the Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) in the University of Limerick.