My Department, working through our agency Enterprise Ireland, supports companies throughout the country to start, scale and succeed in international markets. To support companies start, a range of financial and non-financial supports are available through Enterprise Ireland, including:
- Enterprise Ireland’s
New Frontiers Development Programme, the national entrepreneur development programme for early-stage startups, is run in partnership with 14 Institutes of Technology throughout the country;
- Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund which supports early stage business investments of up to €50,000; and
- Enterprise Ireland’s equity support for high potential start-ups, companies with the potential to develop an innovative product or service for sale in international markets and the potential to create 10 jobs and €1m in sales within 3 to 4 years of starting up.
The table below presents the number of High Potential Start-Ups together with the number of Competitive Start Funds, for the period 2015 -2019, broken down by ICT and International Services and Manufacturing.
2015 -2019
|
ICT and International Services
|
Manufacturing (food and industrial)
|
HSPU
|
299
|
154
|
Competitive Start Fund
|
226
|
262
|