Irish Venture Capital plays a pivitol role in fostering entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation. At Kernel Capital and Seroba Kernel we have in the past 18 months, made 47 investments, in start up and developing companies, each ranging from €250,000 to €2,300,000. This has an important multiplier effect within the Irish economy; helping to create and sustain over 800 high calibre jobs and our portfolio is forecast to grow to employ over 1,000 in the coming 12 months, almost all at graduate and post graduate level. While on the exit side our  Fund I trade sales, such as Stokes Bio, Straatum Processware, Farran technology and Chip Sensors have resulted in the acquiring NASDAQ and LSE quoted companies establishing their first base in Ireland, investing substantially and increasing local employment, again at graduate and post graduate level.

A typical firm is Cork-based Wavebreak Media, which last year received a €250,000 investment from our Bank of Ireland Seed Fund. This investment enabled the stock media company to increase production, recruit more staff and broaden its global distribution network. The company  has a catalogue of over 20,000 HD stock/animation videos and 40,000 photographs which are sold through a distribution network including Getty Images and Corbis Motion. Clients include FoxSports, Channel 4, MTV and the ITN group.  Wavebreak is currently recruiting for a Sales Manager and creative staff (see http://www.wavebreakmedia.com/ for more details).

Another fast-growing Irish business supported by Kernel Capital is Kilkenny-based renewable energy systems provider Hybrid Energy. In April 2011, our €500,000 investment in the firm enabled it to expand into new markets including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Guatemala, Germany, Italy, Fiji and Ghana. A provider of cost effective, easy to maintain power solutions for off-grid telecommunications base stations, customers include Meteor, Telefonica, O2, British Telecom and Vodafone.  Hybrid Energy is currently recruiting a Sales Manager.

Kerry-based BioAtlantis is another example of a dynamic Kernel Capital-backed company, exporting its products to 22 countries. In June 2010, the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Fund II invested €750,000. Focussed on the research, development and manufacture of plant biostimulants and animal prebiotics the firm has achieved multi million euro annual sales revenues and trades profitably.  BioAtlantis is currently recruiting a Sales Executive (see http://www.bioatlantis.com/for more details).
These examples represent 3 from our portfolio of 51 companies where there are currently over 30 immediate job vacancies and strong growth plans.  Entrepreneurs, innovation and venture capital together represent a powerful engine of job creation.

Written by Orla Rimmington, Operations Director in Kernel Capital.

If you are interested in the topic of equity finance why not read our two articles by Alan Gleeson called  Raising Equity Finance and Are business plans still relevant.

We always hear from business owners that advertising can be one of the biggest outgoing costs for an SME. If you are an SME owner and would like an extra advertising boost for your business keep reading…….

News International is offering an overall prize of  €100,000 of free press advertising to the winner of a new small business competition – Ignite Your Business.

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To coincide with National Enterprise Week, we produced a print version of allaboutbusiness.ie.

There are exclusive interviews with the Irish Dragons, including newest addition Norah Casey, as well as articles from a range of experts in the fields of technology, social media, finance and innovation.

Packed with business tips, advice, how-to guides, this publication will give SMEs and entrepreneurs valuable insights into how they can progress their business.

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For small businesses growing beyond one outlet can be difficult and expensive. The more you grow the more capital you need. Franchising your business can be a good way of expanding yet keeping costs minimal.

So how does franchising work? Well, to start with, your business needs to be successful. Nobody will want to franchise a business from you if it doesn’t make money. A franchised business needs to generate enough profit to make money for both the franchisee and you. …

If you have ever bought anything online, you’ll know that it can be tricky to get your package delivered on time, especially if you live in the countryside. If your parcel is not being handled by your local post man, the courier company may not know where your house is located in a particular townland.

Irish entrepreneurs that sell products online are only too aware of these delivery issues and have long campaigned for the introduction of Zip codes into Ireland.

This week, SMEs received some good news as our version of the Zip code “the All-Ireland digital address code system” went live. The new address code provides precise address information and will be invaluable to businesses that need to deliver products and services across the island.

The initiative has been developed by Cork-based company Loc8 Code Ltd in collaboration with Garmin Europe. One of the benefits of the system is that it can deliver considerable savings in transport costs because of the precision of the address when used in conjunction with a satellite navigation device.

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Foursquare, a location based social network that incorporates gaming elements, is planning to distribute a free analytics tool, which will give business owners access to a range of information about visitors to their premises.

With the new analytics dashboard, businesses will be able to see a range of real-time data about Foursquare usage, including who has “checked in” to their place via Foursquare, when they arrived, the male-to-female customer ratio and which times of day are more active for certain customers.

According to the New York Times, a test customer, P.C.C. Natural Markets, a Seattle-based organic foods company, saw a large number of new Foursquare users coming to its stores over the weekend and used the analytics tool to figure out where they were coming from.

“By using the Foursquare dashboard, we figured out that they were coming for a new organic doughnut that had been advertised on TV,” said Ricardo Rabago, social media specialist for the company. …

Some people who would like to work for themselves are stuck looking for ‘the big idea’ that will make them lots of money. However, many entrepreneurs who started up their own business often had a very simple idea initially.

Here is a list of different home-based businesses that have a relatively low start up cost and barriers to entry. You never know, it might spark something off in yourself and give you the inspiration that you need to open up your first business! …