Investors sought for start-up bank in Ireland

Wanted — investors willing to pump €100m into a new European bank that picked Ireland as its first market. Strategic partners only, hedge funds, private equity and institutions need not apply.

American marketing expert Travis Ledwith and German banker Thomas Buemsen have been quietly making that unlikely-sounding pitch to telecoms and technology firms and other hand-picked investors for the last few months.

Now the duo are kicking off formal fundraising that they hope will allow them to cash in on Ireland’s newly-concentrated banking market, the turnaround from economic crisis, and the Dublin technology hub that will help them break new ground.