Irish entrepreneurs have the talent and potential to create a "stable of unicorns" and global winners if the absence of scaling finance can be addressed, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association.
A unicorn is defined as a privately owned start-up valued at more than $1bn, with the likes of Flipdish, WayFlyer and WorkHuman leading the way in Ireland.
Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, Irish Venture Capital Association said “Ireland has huge potential to create a stable of unicorns, and baby unicorns if the scaling problem can be tackled,” following a meeting with enterprise Minister Peter Burke where the TD revealed his department has established an implementation committee to immediately start work on recommendations to assist high potential start-ups access scaling finance.
“The Irish ecosystem for getting companies off the ground, including government and state bodies such as EI (Enterprise Ireland) and ISIF (Ireland Strategic Investment Fund), is largely working well,” Larkin continued.
“The big problem is that, because of a lack of local scaling finance, these innovative, tech based indigenous companies often fall into overseas ownership due to trade sales long before they have reached their potential.
“The challenge, recognised in the Minister’s announcement, is our over dependence on unpredictable international investors in taking these start-ups to the next level of growth.”
Larkin pointed out that in the first quarter of 2024, international funding into Irish SMEs fell by 57% to €184m from €425m last year.
“While we are developing innovative, exciting, indigenous technology start-ups we must put in place mechanisms to source private capital to scale them up to global winners.”
She echoed the department’s report that the lack of this vital scaling finance means that after funding high-risk seed and early-stage companies, Ireland will lose out on employment, tax revenues, the opportunity to create long-term economic value, and the positive spillovers of developing world-class firms.
Photo: Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, Irish Venture Capital Association
