EI awards 10 internet and games companies funding

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today announced the successful ten today.

Each of the ten companies receives an equity investment of €50,000 for a 10pc ordinary equity stake, along with the support of an experienced business mentor to guide them as they develop their business.

The chosen companies offer products and services ranging from games and game engines to consumer services and telecommunications. Selected from over 120 applicants, the ten companies demonstrated strong potential to trade their business internationally.  

Speaking after meeting each of the companies to discuss their plans Minister Bruton said, “The ingenuity and creativity of young Irish entrepreneurs will drive our recovery. The buzz created by these ten companies expresses great confidence for the future. As a government we are determined to help committed young companies with good ideas to succeed.”

Enterprise Ireland established the fund for early stage companies at the critical product market fit stage of their products.

Due to the huge interest in the first fund, Enterprise Ireland has recently expanded its offer with a second fund (Competitive Start Fund) that is also open to software companies in the games, telecoms, software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing and enterprise software sectors.  

"The Government is fully committed to providing funding for start ups and in a manner that meets their needs. That is what this Enterprise Ireland fund is all about – getting vital start up funding and supports into companies at that critical early stage, when they most need it,” said Bruton.

“We know that very early stage companies can face difficulties in raising external financing, and we are determined to ensure that there is greater support for them to help them bridge this gap”.
 
Commenting on the announcement Frank Ryan, CEO of Enterprise Ireland said: “We see this fund as a strategic investment in the future of Ireland’s internet and games industry. Under our Software Strategy, we want to further stimulate the emergence of internet based companies in Ireland and to broaden their international base and scale. This new fund is getting critical early stage finance to some of Ireland’s newest and most exciting internet and games entrepreneurs to help them validate their market and successfully grow their business”.

The ten companies awarded the new Internet and Games Competitive Start Fund:

Redwind Software Providers, is a Dublin company that offers game engines for mobile trivia games.

ByteSurgery Ltd (Decisions For Heroes), is a Dublin web-based emergency response team that helps rescue teams record and analyse their rescue operations.

Cellplay Networks, is a Dublin-based social gaming company.

Tribal City Interactive is a Galway-based games company.

Jlizard Ltd, is a Dublin UCD spin out, which offers a cloud-based service for managing log data.

Plendi Ltd, is a Dublin-based automating receipt processing company.

Scurri Web Services, is a Waterford-based website that helps consumers to discover affordable shipping.

Calom Technologies, offers software for telecommunications companies to expose their TV & Video products as web services.

Franklyweb Ltd, is a Donegal company which offers subscription based clothing product range.

UnitedWeSave Ltd, is a Kerry-based consumer web service for group buying.