Investors in Ireland

Enterprise Ireland, Investment Arm is an investment arm of Enterprise Ireland specializing in direct and fund of funds investments. Within direct, it makes private equity and venture capital investments in seed, startup, very early stage, and growth capital investments in small to medium enterprises. It does not invest in companies involved in activities that fall within gambling or "gaming" as defined in the Gaming & Lotteries Act 1956. The firm seeks to invest in digital content, industrials, life sciences, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, clean technology, green energy, SaaS, cloud computing, enterprise software and services, telecommunication, computer games, electronic components, mobiles, internet, media and entertainment, financial and professional services, food and innovative consumer products, technology companies, manufacturing, and internationally traded services sectors. It also invest in Technical and consulting services, Commercial laboratory services, Administrative/service centres, co-ordination and headquarters services, Research and development services, Media, multimedia and recording services, Entertainment and leisure services, Training services, Publishing services, International Financial services, Healthcare services, Construction related services, Environmental services, Supply Chain Management and Logistics Management services, Commercial international standards bodies, Technology test centres, Prototype laboratory services, Intellectual property services, Group Procurement, Shipping services, Education Services), ICT, industrial, consumer products, aviation, communication technology, fin-tech, payments, banking, security, regulation and insurance, and involving technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, technology hardware and equipment’s, and electronic components. It seeks to invest in companies based in Ireland, Western and Border Counties of Ireland with a focus on Galway, Mayo, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Estonia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Roscommon. The firm seeks to invest less than €0.5 million ($0.71 million) in first round in companies with annual sales of €1 million ($1.31 million) to $1.42 million and employ 10 or more within three to four years of start-up. It seeks to provide equity, quasi equity or debt of between €2 million ($2.59 million) and €10 million ($12.97 million) to established investee companies. It does not propose to commit to funds with total capital commitments of less than €75 million ($97.26 million). It also prefers to co-invest in its portfolio companies. Within fund of fund investments, the firm specializes in investing in venture capital funds, which in turn invest in start-ups. The firm prefers to take a maximum stake of 10 percent in its portfolio companies. Enterprise Ireland, Investment Arm is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Frontline is an early-stage B2B venture capital firm powered by people - the ambitious founders they invest in, their strong networks of industry experts, and their own passionate team of ex-operators. Frontline is based in London and Dublin, but back companies throughout Europe. They bridge the technical and the human, providing both capital and experience to help shorten their founders' learning curves. They strive to unlock the power of collective intelligence through their innovative platform. Frontline invests time and money into building the relationships needed to fast-track your expansion into the US - from investors to recruiters to other founders. They have also built a wealth of knowledge and content around international expansion, so that they can help you reduce the friction.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, managed and controlled by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), is an €8.5 billion sovereign development fund with a unique mandate. We have a statutory mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. With €8.5 billion available to deploy, the Fund differs from other pools of capital in a number of key respects. It has a long investment time horizon and therefore can act as a permanent or patient source of long-term capital. It has flexibility up and down the capital structure and can therefore meet changing capital needs and gaps in the marketplace. The Fund will seek to invest in transactions where it can make a difference, where its characteristics can enable commercial investment transactions with positive economic impact and can make it an attractive “investor of choice” for company and project sponsors and advisors. We are a strategic investor with strong connections in both the public and private sectors. We are uniquely positioned to make connections and drive innovation across multiple industry players developing and delivering innovative opportunities that might otherwise go unrealised.

ACT Venture Capital Limited is a venture capital firm specializing in start up and early to late stage, mid stage investments and expansion. The firm seeks to invest in information and communication technology; software; healthcare; semiconductors; Internet and media; medical devices; clean energy; and life sciences sectors. It seeks to invest in companies based in Ireland, United Kingdom, and Europe. It takes minority stakes in its portfolio companies. The firm either invests on its own or alongside other venture capital firms, usually as lead investor. It seeks to take a board seat on its portfolio companies. ACT Venture Capital Limited was founded in 1994 and is based in Dublin, Ireland with an additional office in Belfast, United Kingdom.

Foresight Group is an alternative asset manager with a strong 30-year track record and specific expertise in environmental and solar infrastructure and private equity. Foresight Group is a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for 30 years. With current assets under management of over £2.2 billion, raised from the UK and international private and high-net-worth individuals, family offices, pension funds and other institutional investors, Foresight strives to generate increasing dividends and capital appreciation for its investors over the long term. Foresight has offices in UK, USA, Italy, and Australia.

Founded in 2004, Atlantic Bridge is a Dublin-headquartered growth equity firm with offices in London, Munich, Paris and Palo Alto. It specialises in early-stage investments in technology, life sciences, cleantech, healthcare and agribusiness companies primarily across the United States, Ireland and Europe.

IDIA Capital Investissement is the private equity arm of Crédit Agricole Capital Investissement et Finance. The firm specializes in direct and fund of funds investments. Within the fund of funds investments, the firm seeks to invest in private equity and venture capital funds. Within the direct investments, the firm specializes in growth capital, middle market, leveraged buyouts, leveraged buyins, OBO, spin-off, recapitalization, PIPES, and mezzanine financing. It provides financing in the form of combined equity, quasi equity, convertible bonds, and long-term subordinated debt to mid-cap and small and medium size listed and unlisted companies. It does not invest in venture capital and only co-invests in growth capital with a minority or majority stake. The firm primarily invests in food processing, nutrition, food retail, agricultural distribution, catering, agrifood, agriculture, and wine industry, such as wine growing and wine producing. Within agrifood, it invests in Agroindustries and related sectors mainly in mid-cap and in small and medium size companies, investing between €1 million to €50 million in companies with an enterprise value of €15 million to €500 million taking typically minority stake or majority stake in case of co-investments over an average holding period of five to seven years. Within the wine industry, it seeks to take majority and minority stakes in prestigious vineyards with an enterprise value of €5 million to €150 million, investing usually between €5 million to €20 million over an average holding period of seven to twelve years. Within agriculture, it invests in agricultural production, forestry, farming, and vineyard groups. The firm seeks to invest in French and Italian companies. Generally, the firm invests TO_DELETE in companies valued TO_DELETE taking minority as well as majority stake in its portfolio companies and also co-invests alongside other partners. It usually takes a seat on the Board of Directors or in the Strategic Committee of it investee companies. The average investment period is between seven to ten years. IDIA Capital Investissement is based in Montrouge, France with additional offices in Montrouge, France and Milan, Italy.

Speedinvest is a European venture capital fund for tech start-ups. The company collaborates with entrepreneurs in achieving their goal of building great companies. It is involved in early stage investments and specializes in operational support. Speedinvest partners with a global network, that includes operations in Silicon Valley, to become a key investment and development hub for Europe’s start-up community.

Founded in 1995, Crescent Capital is a Belfast-based venture capital fund manager focused on opportunities in Northern Ireland. The firm specialised in corporate step-outs and university spin-outs and primarily invests in information technology, life sciences and manufacturing companies.

Kernel Capital is the independent manager of The Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Venture Funds, one of the largest and most active sources of equity finance on the island of Ireland. Kernel leverage their extensive network to enable their portfolio companies recruit the highest caliber people, to break into new international markets and to generate revenues of scale. It is the only investment firm with venture capital Funds dedicated to both jurisdictions on the Island. Kernel have raised over €210M from investors which including their strategic partner Bank of Ireland, Invest NI, Enterprise Ireland, Galway University Foundation, The University of Limerick Foundation, The New York State Common Retirement Fund and undisclosed Family Offices. Consistently delivering strong financial returns for their investors Kernel have led more than 20 substantial trade sales to NASDAQ, NYSE, and LSE listed corporations.