Ireland primed to be crowdfunding leader

Ireland has all the ingredients to become a driving force behind European crowdfunding and continue to develop as a start-up hub, according to a leading expert.

Crowdfunding, which allows entrepreneurs to raise money from online contributors as an alternative way of funding their business, has become increasingly popular in recent years with huge growth in countries such as the US and UK.

The funding mechanism has caught on all across the globe, including in Ireland where there is potential for the industry to boom in the coming years, partly due to the relatively small market that exists here.

“Ireland has every element to be one of the strongest crowdfunding markets, in Europe my opinion,” said Anastasia Emmanuel, European Director for Technology and Design at Indiegogo.

“For the same reasons that it already has a successful entrepreneurial landscape; the strong startup scene, government support and a good network of venture capital [VC] investment.

“It is also small enough for collaboration to be very effective. I have found that, in smaller ecosystems, things tend to happen quicker and the cross-section of companies is more interesting.

“If you look at US hubs, they are spread out. Media, fashion and banking is in New York. Tech and VC money is in Silicon Valley. There is an opportunity there for smaller startup hubs like Ireland to develop quickly.”

Many of the most high-profile Irish campaigns hosted on Indiegogo, one of the world’s leading crowdfunding platforms, have been creative projects such as the recently released film The Queen of Ireland, which raised more than €54,000.

With a strong start-up ecosystem in Ireland, more projects are likely to emerge across a range of sectors as crowdfunding is predicted to grow into a $100bn (€91.4bn) industry by 2025.

Ms Emmanuel is hoping to meet some of those potential Indiegogo clients at the Web Summit this week, an event which has helped Ireland’s technology reputation internationally but which has not fully dragged it from the shadows of some bigger neighbours.

“From the perspective of a Londoner, it feels as though Ireland has been overlooked somewhat by capitals like London and Berlin where the tech start-up ecosystem is world-renowned and actively taking on the US hubs,” said Ms Emmanuel.

“When you look at the key facts, Ireland has a very strong community of startups and investment, both salient elements for a tech hub to thrive.

“Last year UK tech companies raised €2bn making it the biggest player in Europe for Venture Capital investment. I was surprised to learn that the island of Ireland had €401m invested into its startups. Considering that the UK has 10 times the population, one could expect 10 times the level of investment.”

A possible reason the Irish scene is somewhat overlooked is the lower number of large-scale flotations which is quite separate to the entrepreneurial landscape of the country, she added.