NDRC-backed ventures get €40m investment

Start-ups and emerging companies supported by the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC)

attracted €40 million in commercial investment last year, according to the centre’s latest annual report.

The market capital value of these ventures trebled in the year from €39 million in 2012 to €120 million last year, and is projected to reach €180 million by the end of this year.

The annual report of the centre, the high-tech business incubator in Dublin’s Liberties, shows almost 200 jobs have been created at NDRC-backed firms in the last year, bringing the total number of jobs created to date to 432.

Financial return

The NDRC also reached a milestone last year in realising its first financial returns, of €180,000 on its investments.

Chief executive Ben Hurley said year-on-year commercial investment in NDRC-back ventures had more than doubled from €16 million in 2012 to €40 million last year and, is set to increase to €60 million by the end of this year.

“The market capital of ventures in the NDRC portfolio similarly experienced massive growth, trebling in just one year to €120 million,” he added.

Mr Hurley said 432 jobs, including 300 full-time jobs and more than 120 part-time ones, have been created in Ireland by NDRC companies, with 182 of these jobs coming in the last year.

He said the centre has entered into strategic partnerships with Enterprise Ireland, Accenture, AIB, Bank of Ireland, EY, Microsoft Ventures, Mediolanum International Funds and State Street.

These partnerships have led to the introduction of NDRC FinTech, which was an initiative to support very early stage enterprises in financial technologies as well as Female Founders, a part-time initiative for female entrepreneurs.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Alex White said building indigenous technology companies is vital to Ireland’s continued recovery.

Digital entrepreneurship

“NDRC can make a key contribution to achieving this. The value of the Government’s investment in digital entrepreneurship and innovation is clearly demonstrated by the fact that NDRC-backed ventures have directly created more than 300 full time and over 120 part-time jobs in Ireland’s digital economy.”

The NDRC is ranked in the top 2.5 per cent of incubators worldwide and is the only Irish incubator ranked in the top 20 of the UBI Index.

In the most comprehensive global study of business incubators, the UBI Index assessed 800 incubators in 67 countries worldwide with 300 of these shortlisted for rigorous benchmarking.

The NDRC was ranked 19th worldwide and seventh in Europe, the highest placement for an Irish incubator.