Enterprise minister Peter Burke, has announced a new cycle of the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme which will operate for the period 2025 to 2029 and will have a record allocation of €250 million. 

The scheme, which will be administered by Enterprise Ireland, will provide vital funding for Irish companies in their early stages of development, and will be an important step in developing and growing Irish equity funding. 

Minister Burke said: “Today’s announcement of a new Seed and Venture Capital Scheme, totalling €250m over five years, is good news for our entrepreneurial base seeking alternative sources of finance for their companies. These vibrant and innovative companies are driving exciting change in key sectors of our economy and play a key role in ensuring that Ireland continues to enjoy a strong economy that delivers jobs and prosperity.

Green tech, AI and life sciences and others

“I was delighted to not only approve another cycle for the scheme but to also secure a 42% increase in funding over the existing scheme and this will enable Enterprise Ireland to create larger funds that will be invested in Irish firms in key areas such as green tech, AI and life sciences and others.

“We need to continue to develop an environment that gives more funding options to our entrepreneurs and supports their ambition so that their innovative ideas and the jobs created by them can remain here in Ireland.

“Over the last 30 years, this scheme has helped Enterprise Ireland become the largest venture capital investor in Europe and given the current uncertainty with global bond markets, today’s announcement provides assurance to investors that Ireland and our companies are an attractive location for investment.

“It is a key ambition of my department, as set out in the white paper on Enterprise, to support our SMEs now and as they innovate for future growth. This extensive funding underlines that commitment and shows the government’s willingness to back innovation and ensure that our companies can continue to grow and thrive.”

Leo McAdams, divisional manager, investment services, Enterprise Ireland, said: “Access to finance through the Enterprise Ireland administered Seed and Venture Capital Scheme has played an important role in developing the talented pipeline of innovative, high-growth Irish-owned companies that we have seen in recent years. More than €1.4bn has been invested in over 600 Irish owned companies by funds supported by Enterprise Ireland since the Seed and Venture Capital programme first commenced 30 years ago.

“The Seed and Venture Capital Scheme continues to strengthen the funding ecosystem for high growth start-up companies in Ireland, helping to foster an environment where companies can start, grow, innovate and scale internationally by providing vital equity capacity. 

"This will also play a role in stimulating the Irish economy, by delivering enhanced equity capital availability for early stage, innovative Irish SMEs, supporting them to create new jobs, increase exports and to scale with a focus on ESG, sustainability and regional activity.”

The overall vision of the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme is to increase the availability of risk capital for startups to support economic growth through continued development of the Seed and Venture Capital industry in Ireland to achieve a more robust, commercially viable and self-sustaining sector.

The department recently commissioned a review of the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme between 2013 to 2022 with the evaluation findings strongly positive about the relevance and impact of the scheme. 

Key findings

The key findings of the report by UK based company SQW Limited include:

  • The scheme has increased the availability of risk capital and has crowded in significant private investment. To date, Enterprise Ireland has invested more than €700m in the scheme, which has leveraged funds totalling €3.3bn;
  • The econometric analysis found that the scheme had a significant impact on investee firms in terms of employment, R&D expenditure, company valuations and likelihood of securing follow-on funding;
  • At the highest level, the scheme has improved the function and robustness of the equity market in Ireland and has helped to develop new fund managers by providing cornerstone fund investments;
  • The estimates for the economic benefits (realised and expected) associated with SVC-backed Irish firms more than 10 years from 2013 to 2022 are €2.05bn in gross value added (in real terms) with about 4,300 additional jobs created or 28 jobs per SVC-backed firm on average.