A total of 55 high growth potential Northern Ireland companies have been matched with investors at a showcase event in Belfast.
Catalyst, the not-for-profit organisation which fosters tech companies in the province and which organised the event, said its Inbound Investors event saw 60 venture capital firms attend from across the 海角视频 and Ireland, including Ananda Impact Ventures, Mercia Asset Management, Outward VC, BGF and Concept Ventures.
They heard pitches from companies looking for investment ranging from 拢250,000 up to 拢5 million from a range of sectors. Some of the Northern Ireland companies who took part in the event included StimOxyGen, Cumulus Neuroscience, Plaswire Ltd, Automated Intelligence and Ubloqity.
鈥淚n order to see tech and innovative companies in Northern Ireland, we need to tap into the wide array of funding available in the 海角视频, Ireland and beyond,鈥 Kieran Dalton, Head of Scaling at Catalyst, said. 鈥淭he more deals done by non-NI funders, the easier it will be to get others to take notice and invest too.
鈥淭his is why Inbound Investors is so important. It provides local companies with the opportunity to connect with investors and build meaningful relationships. Catalyst helps to maintain these funder relationships and facilitate that crucial investment by understanding what they want and don鈥檛 want and matching them to the right NI companies.
鈥淭he event was a huge success and we are delighted with the results. We successfully matched 55 NI companies with suitable investors and provided a space where VCs in attendance could build relationships with budding entrepreneurs.鈥
Susan Nightingale from British Business Bank said the event has grown from just 17 investors in 2018 to 60 presently.
鈥淭he equity funding ecosystem in Northern Ireland is reasonably strong, however, it can be challenging for companies in scale-up mode to secure funding in excess of 拢1 million,鈥 she said. 鈥淚nbound Investors is proving successful in terms of introducing innovative smaller businesses to non-Northern Ireland investors, which are increasingly seeing Northern Ireland as a great place to do business.鈥
