The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) has signed up 12 companies, from non-bank lender Finance Ireland to fintech start-up Rubicoin, for the second edition of its programme aimed at securing stock market flotations for the bourse.
The exchange’s 2017 IPOready programme will put 24 chief executives, chief financial officers and chief operating officers through their paces in a 15-month schedule “of structured support to develop their ability to attract capital from domestic and international investors and scale their businesses”.
A group of nine companies that “graduated” from the inaugural programme last year have since raised €120 million in debt and equity financing and have “created over 600 jobs”, according to the exchange.
Finance Ireland, founded in 2002 by former Permanent TSB chief executive Billy Kane and which specialises in motor, small business and property finance, has already publicly set it sites on floating or finding a trade buyer within three to five years. Rubicoin, creator of a teaching app that guides people through the world of investing, has raised more than €5 million since it was set up in 2013.
Participants
The list of participants in the new ISE programme also include Atlantic Therapeutics, which develops medical services and technologies to treat incontinence and sexual health dysfunctions, agritechnology company Devenish, precast concrete maker O'Reilly Group and PMD Solutions, the creator of a respiratory monitor.
“A key challenge for Ireland is to enable companies that have the ambition and the potential to be in a position to access capital markets to raise permanent financing to scale their business,” said Orla O’Gorman, head of equity at the ISE.
The programme includes modules on getting companies investment ready, understanding sources of finance and the fundraising process as well as how to attract investors and access the equity markets.
Other companies signed up to IPOready include: Cavan-based toolmaker ATA Group; Crest Solutions, which provides track and trace solutions for the packaging industry; information and communications technology firm PFH Technology Group; Taoglas, a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) antenna products; and customer support outsourcing company Zevas Communications.
