SOFTWARE ENTREPRENEUR Raomal Perera is raising €1.5 million in business expansion scheme (BES) funding for his latest venture, which is providing human resources (HR) software.

Mr Perera co-founded Isocor, the Dublin software provider which floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 1996 and was acquired by Critical Path for $450 million (€287 million) in 2000. More recently he founded Valista, the Wicklow-based mobile payments firm, where he holds a non-executive director position.

His latest venture, Empower, was founded by HR consultant Fergus Barry in 2004. The company initially provided consultancy to Irish firms on emerging HR practices such as performance and talent management.

Mr Barry then approached Mr Perera to assist Empower in turning his services into a software product. Mr Perera is now chief executive of Empower.

The company has formed a partnership with hSenid in Sri Lanka, where Mr Perera was born. Empower has invested in the HR software company for a 15 per cent stake with an option to buy it outright by 2010.

Empower has already sold the software to a number of large Irish clients and is creating a hosted version of the product, which will be provided to small firms as a service on the internet.

Mr Perera described the product as supporting the "next generation of HR", which can ensure staff are compensated according to their contribution to the company, ensure the right people are in the right roles, and identify key employees for succession planning.

Empower has been funded to date by its directors. Mr Perera said the new funding was earmarked for research and development and international expansion.

There was significant interest in the BES scheme as there are not a lot of technology investment opportunities around, he added.

"If there is a recession or downturn, one of the markets that remains is HR, because you need to manage people to get the most out of them."