Posted: 12 July 2007
AIB bases €30m seed fund at UCD
AIB will base its €30m Seed Capital Fund at NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin. Equally funded by AIB and Enterprise Ireland, the fund is the first established under Enterprise Ireland’s €175 million Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2007-2012.
The average initial investment made by the fund will be €250,000. With a seven year economic life, the fund is expected to make 50 to 60 investments.
“One of the challenges facing UCD is to accelerate the establishment of new ventures to commercialise innovative ideas and intellectual property arising from its growing research programmes,” said Dr Pat Frain, Director, NovaUCD, welcoming the establishment of the €30m AIB Seed Capital Fund at UCD.
“Two key issues in this regard are access to management expertise and the availability of seed funding,” he continued. “This new fund is particularly welcomed since it will focus on early stage high-potential start-ups such as those spinning out from UCD research.”
AIB Seed Capital Fund
The AIB Seed Capital Fund is the first fund to be established under the €175 million Seed and Venture Capital Scheme. In 2006, AIB was selected by Enterprise Ireland to partner with them on an exclusive basis to create a €30 million Seed Capital Fund. The selection was made as a result of AIB’s participation in a competitive tender process.
AIB’s position in the business banking market is evidenced by independent research (MRBI) which confirms that “AIB has a relationship with one in every two of the estimated 250,000 Irish SME’s” – making it Ireland’s largest business bank. AIB supports SME’s by providing finance for credit worthy and performance related projects. In 2006, AIB’s total lending to Irish business exceeded €30bn, up over 30% on 2005 levels.