Directory of Venture Capitalists

ACT Venture

Our venture capital team is one of the most internationally experienced groups in Ireland with operational and commercial expertise beyond investing.

Our companies benefit from having all of our partners working for them, sharing the benefits of our collective experience in working with teams creating and building international businesses. ACT backed companies become part of a network of high-level venture capital, growth equity, operating, and entrepreneurial experts across our extensive portfolio.

ACT Venture Capital makes venture capital investments in entrepreneurial and innovative companies.

As well as backing start up and early stage businesses, we also invest in more established companies looking to use venture capital to build scale. All of the ventures we back have the potential to succeed in the global high grwoth markets.

We typically invest between €200,000 and €10 million in funding rounds of up to €30 million. We either invest on our own or alongside other venture capital firms, usually as lead investor.

The funds we invest come from blue chip investors including global financial institutions, alternative asset fund management companies and pension funds. To date we have raised over €370m from across multiple funds, from blue chip financial institutions, and invested in 95 Companies that share our goal.

Executing this model over the past 15 years we have built a broad network of International Venture Capital syndicate relationships with VC’s in the US, UK & Europe. This network, together with our funds, has invested €1bn in the ventures backed by ACT

Delta

Venture Capital

Delta Partners is a venture capital firm investing primarily in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was established in 1994 and has €250 million under management. Delta is currently investing two funds: Delta Equity Fund (DEF) III and the Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund 2010. The firm has a strong focus on investing in early stage technology companies, and the team has made over 60 investments in these two sectors:

• Technology-based Businesses
• MedTech & Other Healthcare

Delta is among the most active early stage investors in Europe. The partners’ backgrounds in operations, strategy and finance complement the drive and ambition of entrepreneurial management teams.

Strategy

At Delta Partners, we have one goal: to help great entrepreneurs in Ireland and the UK to build world-beating companies. That’s what drives us and everything we do – from our investment strategy to how we organise ourselves.

The venture capital model is changing. Less capital is required to build industry-shifting value propositions. Entrepreneurs can leverage the new paradigm of open-source and knowledge-sharing to develop solutions in less time and for less cost than ever before. And, world-beating technology is no longer enough to build markets or threaten incumbents. More and more, market access, proprietary information, creative pricing (or ‘value extraction’), and partnership management are just as important to succeed.

Our investment strategy is simple: be the first venture capital investor in technology-enabled companies that seek to take advantage of explosive market opportunities. This is when entrepreneurs need the most help and it’s when we get the opportunity for an outsized return on our investment.

Delta Investment Funds

We are currently actively investing two funds. Our primarly fund is Delta Equity Fund III (DEF III). We are also investing the Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund 2010 (Seedfund). To learn more or find out which one is appropriate for you, please click on the links.

Irish Venture Capital Association

The IVCA represents venture capital in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its full members are venture capital firms which provide equity funding to growing unquoted companies. Associate members of the IVCA include firms that provide advisory services including corporate finance houses, commercial and intellectual property law firms, accountants and other advisers experienced in the venture capital field.

Venture Capital

The IVCA represents venture capital in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its full members are venture capital firms which provide equity funding to growing unquoted companies. Associate members of the IVCA include firms that provide advisory services including corporate finance houses, commercial and intellectual property law firms, accountants and other advisers experienced in the venture capital field.

Kernal Capital

Kernel Capital is one of Ireland’s largest and most active venture capital funds. The firm has a portfolio of investee companies across, technology, life science and general industry. Kernel Capital and our associate Life Science Investment firm Seroba Kernel (www.seroba-kernel.com) have €173m under management spread across multiple Funds including:

• BANK OF IRELAND KERNEL CAPITAL FUND I
• BANK OF IRELAND KERNEL CAPITAL FUND II
• BANK OF IRELAND VENTURE CAPITAL FUND
• SEROBA KERNEL LIFE SCIENCES FUND
• BANK OF IRELAND SEED AND EARLY STAGE EQUITY FUND
• BANK OF IRELAND MEDTECH ACCELERATOR FUND

We target opportunities in the €100k to €5m range. The Kernel team have been instrumental in numerous corporate finance and IP licensing transactions totalling several hundred million Euros and are named inventors on over thirty patents. Our Executive Team have been published in leading scientific journals and have presented regularly at international conferences. Kernel Capital funds have received investment from Enterprise Ireland under the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2000 – 2006 and 2007 – 2012, our Strategic Partner Bank of Ireland, University of Limerick Foundation, National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) and some of Ireland’s leading pension fund managers.

Enterprise Equity

Enterprise Equity Venture Capital is a national provider of venture capital to new and expanding companies throughout Ireland. As a professional venture capital funds manager, EEVC has invested \8050 million in over 70 companies to date.

Established in 1987 by the International Fund for Ireland as a commercial venture capital company, EEVC’s objective is to stimulate viable and self-sustaining growth in the private sector of the economy. This is achieved through investment of equity capital in well managed, innovative and growth orientated companies across a wide range of sectors.

EEVC invests equity capital in well managed early stage and growth orientated companies across a wide range of sectors including software, communications hardware, med tech, silicon, and food.

Individual investments are typically up to ca. \801.5 million. EEVC will participate in larger deals through syndication, and it has a practical and well developed network of international and domestic syndicate partners.

EEVC is prepared to invest in companies focused on growth, backed by a solid and committed management team. It does not invest in property, leisure or retail businesses, but it will consider investment in most other sectors. EEVC will consider MBIs and MBOs where appropriate.

Enterprise Equity Northern Ireland

Enterprise Equity is one of Northern Ireland’s longest established Private Equity businesses. We have an enviable investment record in both technology ventures such as BCO Technologies, as well as traditional businesses such as Balcas.

We look to invest in businesses that have grown successfully in recent years and have a desire to go even further.

Whether you are a business founder wanting to explore exit options, an incoming management team wanting to take over the reins, or simply need fresh equity to fund further development, we hope that this site gives you a feel for what we do and how we work.

Our business is all about people.

While we say that we invest in businesses, we really invest in the Management Teams that run them. And this is why Management buy-ins, where a business is bought by an outside management team, have become increasingly popular as management teams or individuals with proven track-records, seek to repeat their success.

If you have that proven track-record and want to mount a management buy-in or to be involved as a chairman or non-executive director, come and talk to us about how we can work with you to find the right company.

Indeed if you have identified a target, we can provide the investment resource and expertise required to make an approach. Our funding and experience can be brought to bear in negotiating with a vendor, arranging the appropriate financing structure, suggesting professional advisors and ensuring that the buy-in process goes smoothly.

4th Level Venture University Seed Fund
Limited Partnership

The fund was established to commercialize the business opportunities that arise from university research. Investees will be high potential businesses in the seed or early stages of their development arising out of research in Irish third level educational institutions

AIB Seed Capital Fund

Enterprise Equity will evaluate all investments outside the city and county of Dublin, as well as investments that require in excess of €250,000 from the fund within Dublin. Dublin Business Innovation Centre (DBIC) will evaluate all investments within the city and county of Dublin when the initial investment amount required from the Fund does not exceed €250,000.

Atlantic Bridge LP

Atlantic Bridge brings together a unique team of technology entrepreneurs, experienced managers, finance professionals and investment experts. The team contains a wealth of international business experience across Europe, the US and Asia. We have worked together in various capacities for the last 10-20 years, bringing a true partnership approach to our firm and our investments. Our investors include the founders, leading institutional investors and private investors with a track record of investment in successful technology companies.

BVP Investments Limited

We specialise in the Cleantech sector for all stages in particular seed and early stage. On a high level this covers energy efficiency, water, lighting, heating technologies and services which advance resource efficiency, sustainability and low carbon emissions. We are also investing in early stage renewable energy development companies.

Clarendon Fund Managers Limited

Viridian Growth Fund – Established to provide early stage equity finance for the entrepreneurial SME sector in Northern Ireland. Nitech Growth Fund – Established by Invest Northern Ireland, providing early stage funding to take an R&D project to proof of concept and commercialisation.

Crescent Capital

Crescent invests across a range of sectors including:- IT, digital media, technology, telecommunications, tradeable services, manufacturing.

DFJ Esprit LLP

DFJ Esprit is a leading cross-stage venture capital firm that invests in European technology companies. Members of the DFJ Esprit team have been active in technology investing for three decades. They have experience of investing in over 200 companies, generating strong returns for investors through building valuable global companies alongside founders and management teams. The DFJ Esprit partners have invested and helped build many of Europe’s most successful venture companies of recent years, including Apatech, Buy.at, Icera, KVS, LOVEFiLM, CSR, Domantis and Zeus. DFJ Esprit is the exclusive European partner for Silicon Valley based Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Global Network of venture funds. DFJ Esprit invests across Europe and has partners located in London, Cambridge, Dublin, Helsinki and Paris.

Dublin Business Innovation Centre

Dublin BIC is an investment general partner in the €53m AIB Seed Capital Fund providing investment to start-up and early stage companies in Dublin City and County.

E-Synergy Ltd

Fountain Healthcare Partners

Fountain Healthcare Partners is a life science focused venture capital fund headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a second office in New York, US. Fountain specialises in making investments in biotechnology, medical device, specialty pharma and diagnostic companies and allocates the majority of its capital to Europe with a primary emphasis on Ireland

Innovation Ulster Ltd

Innovation Ulster Ltd is the University of Ulster’s wholly-owned technology venturing company.

NCB Ventures

The Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund backs management teams that need capital to expand their businesses into new markets, develop and launch new products, effect MBOs & MBIs, implement ‘buy and build’ strategies, and spin outs

Novusmodus

Our mission is to provide capital support and knowledge to companies, projects and management teams in the clean energy and energy efficiency sectors, against a transformation being brought about by a large scale transition to a low carbon global economy

Powerscourt Capital Partners

Qubis Ltd

Established by Queen’s University. It has a portfolio of 55 Technology Companies based in Northern Ireland with combined sales of £113m employing 1,024 people.

Seroba Kernel Life Sciences

Seroba Kernel Life Sciences is a European venture capital firm. We finance innovative, growth focused companies across the spectrum of the life science industry. Managed from our offices in Dublin and with partners based in Oxford and Cambridge, we invest in opportunities across Ireland, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe

TVC Holdings plc

TVC Holdings plc is a publicly quoted company which provide equity capital and strategic expertise to companies. We are particularly interested in turnaround and recovery situations.

Western Development Commission

The Western Investment Fund provides Seed and Venture Capital to new and existing businesses across a range of sectors in the Western Region (Counties Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo). It will also consider MBOs/MBIs. Larger investments are considered on a syndicated basis with other private investors

Polaris Venture Partner

COMMUNITY

Since 1996, Polaris Venture Partners has worked to develop a new model for venture capital. The firm’s founding partners eschewed traditional transaction-based interactions, seeking deeper, long-term relationships with entrepreneurs.

This basic principle continues today and has allowed us to build strong, enduring partnerships with leading, like-minded entrepreneurs shaping innovation across Technology, Healthcare, and Consumer sectors. Together, we now form a larger networked, supportive community with a shared passion for achievement.

Fairness and true partnership are cornerstones of our community and our fundamental approach over multiple generations. Building deep and enduring relationships with special entrepreneurs — who are true innovators — enables our repeated success

DIVERSIFIED STRATEGY

We believe that diversification is the most successful long-term venture capital investment strategy.

Our experienced, multi-generational partnership invests in seed- and early-stage companies, as well as in high-growth middle market companies. We also invest across three focus areas: Technology, Healthcare, and Consumer.

With offices in Boston, New York, Palo Alto and Dublin, Ireland, we have strong regional diversity, putting us at the forefront of emerging trends across our key areas of focus

MULTI-STAGE INVESTORS

We invest across all company lifecycle stages, and are the lead or co-lead investor in virtually all of our portfolio companies.

As seed- and early-stage investors, we take an active, long-term role in helping our family of companies develop into successful, market-leading businesses.

Through our growth equity and buyout investments, we support teams as they are making important business model changes or are seeking liquidity.

OPERATING APPROACH

Each day the CEOs at our family of companies are tackling important business challenges, and Polaris’ partners and our extended community are there to help.

Having invested in more than 240 diverse companies, our partners have worked with CEOs to navigate many tough decisions. We’ve worked through good and bad economic cycles, and that repeated experience grounds informed decision making.

Our CEOs have access to an extended network of advisors that includes senior executives of public and private businesses, established thought leaders across Technology, Healthcare, and Consumer sectors, as well as gifted operational professionals with expertise in areas such as market dynamics, business development, R&D, financial and strategic planning, mergers/acquisitions.