£55Million for New Irish Start Up Companies (A Step in the right direction )

Start-up companies in line for €55 million windfall
01 August 2010 By Martha Kearns

An extra €55 million is to be made available for start-up firms, under a plan to be announced today by enterprise minister Batt O’Keeffe.

The minister is expected to announce that the number of high-potential start-up firms that the government will support will rise to 100 within six years as a result of the extra money. Last year, Enterprise Ireland supported 73 such companies, with the same number forecast for this year.

However, this is expected to rise to 85 next year, and to 100 by 2016.

Enterprise Ireland’s annual budget for the high-potential start-ups is €22 million, but an extra €55 million will be given over the six-year timeframe to increase the number of startups.

This will bring the total government investment in high potential firms to €187 million between 2011 and 2016.

Enterprise Ireland has a dedicated unit for high-potential start-ups, which are defined as export-oriented firms that have an innovative product or business model.

They are expected to generate sales of over €1 million annually within three years and employ more than ten workers.

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

Some are also referred to the county enterprise boards. Just over a third of entrepreneurs who receive feasibility grants go on to develop their proposals and become designated high-potential firms.

‘‘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," O’Keeffe told The Sunday Business Post. ‘‘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."