THE IRISH Venture Capital Association has expressed concerns that spending cuts at Enterprise Ireland and other agencies could prevent the formation and survival of new innovative companies.
“It would be a false economy as research shows that these companies grow faster, hire more graduates and export more than other indigenous firms,” said Regina Breheny, director general of the association.
Enterprise Ireland has become an increasingly important source of funding for emerging Irish companies in the face of the recession.
According to the association’s own figures released yesterday, Enterprise Ireland was an investor in 48 of the 82 publicly disclosed venture capital-style investments made in Irish firms last year, which had a total value of €232 million.
However, this figure includes the €47 million refinancing of Nasdaq-quoted biopharmaceutical company Amarin.
The figures show that recognised Irish VC firms took part in just 35 of the 82 transactions listed in the association’s VenturePulse survey. Overseas and private investors made up the difference.
This is despite the face that through Enterprise Ireland, the State has earmarked more than €175 million to co-invest with Irish VC firms between 2007- 2012.
When the Enterprise Ireland-managed seed and venture capital programme was launched in 2006 it was hoped it would make €1 billion available to start-up firms.
