Pictured: John Phelan, all-island director HBAN
On a daily basis, WestBIC meets and works with early-stage companies, that have the ambition and opportunity to create truly distinctive and disruptive businesses, that will further develop the SME sector in the West & Northwest of Ireland and create a growth environment for sustainable jobs. State funding for these companies often provides a critical starting point, however, it is typically only possible for these SMEs to genuinely advance when helped by private capital as provided by angel investors and other early-stage funds.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment (DETE) in Ireland and the Department for the Economy (DFE) in Northern Ireland have approved continued funding for the HBAN Programme. As just announced in the results for 2022, HBAN members invested €33m in 86 deals, up 81% on 2021 and 2021’s €18.2m in what has been HBAN’s most successful year to-date. This is a significant step forward in the consolidation of the angel ecosystem in Ireland, with 79% of the deal values coming from syndicates.
The growth of the syndicate groupings, with their commitment of time and capital to investment activities is a clear reflection of the success of the HBAN Programme. We want to acknowledge and sincerely thank all Angel investors who have participated and given so generously of their time, along with financial commitments, to fledgling companies.
Our fellow IrishBIC and colleagues in Furthr have managed the programme successfully since inception in 2007, at WestBIC, we are delighted have contributed to the success of HBAN to date, along with CorkBIC, South East BIC and Clarendon. The BIC teams have been intrinsically linked to the HBAN Programme and the angel investment market that we have today is a true testament to our joint commitment.
In 2022, as the most recent five-year contract to operate HBAN came to a close, Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland launched a public procurement process to appoint an operator for the next five years. Dogpatch Labs have been awarded the contract and will be transitioning to the running of the Programme.
WestBIC looks forward to continuing its support for high potential startups in becoming investor ready and growing access to investment within the West/North West Region. We are delighted to have contributed to the success of HBAN to date and we wish the Dogpatch Labs team and Portershed, the regional delivery hub in the West, the best going forward.
