Additional €55 mallocated for start-ups

THE Government has announced the provision of an additional €55m to help innovative start-up companies get off the ground.

Enterprise Minister Batt O’Keeffe said that the extra resources would enable the number of high-potential start-up (HPSU) firms the Government supports to reach 100 within six years.

He said last year Enterprise Ireland supported 73 HPSUs, with the same number forecast for this year. Enterprise Ireland’s annual budget for the HPSUs is €22m.

The additional €55m will bring the total Government investment in HPSUs to €187m between 2011 and 2016.

“The Innovation Taskforce called on Enterprise Ireland to prioritise start-up and early-stage enterprise activities and to draw innovative entrepreneurs to Ireland from abroad,” said the Minister. “It is Government policy to support Irish early-stage entrepreneurs with increased funding so that we can drive export-led growth in the domestic economy, create jobs and generate investor confidence.”

A HPSU is an export-oriented firm that has an innovative product or business model and would be expected to generate sales of over €1m annually within three years and employ more than 10 workers.

It must also be led by an experienced team with a mixture of technical and commercial skills.

Each year, Enterprise Ireland gives between 200 and 250 potential entrepreneurs feasibility grants of about €15,000.

Just over a third of entrepreneurs who receive feasibility grants go on to develop their proposals and become designated HPSUs.

“The target to step up the number of Government-backed HPSUs to 100 by 2016 will be achieved by bringing new cohorts of entrepreneurs into play, from areas such as clean technology, high-tech software, life science and university research activities,” said the Minister.