Up to €200,000 to be made available to tech start-ups

Up to €200,000 in funding is to be made available to 15 high-profile tech start-ups by AIB and venture-capital firm Frontline Ventures.

AIB head of equity investment Ray Fitzpatrick said the bank “recognises the importance of supporting this vital sector and its future growth potential”.

“This initial stage of development in an entrepreneur’s journey is often the most difficult, and AIB is keen to support their first step on that journey,” he said.

"We first developed the AIB Discovery Programme in 2013 to invest directly in Ireland's brightest entrepreneurs at their earliest stage of development. Since then it has supported companies such as Pointy, Love & Robots and Drop who have brought real technology innovation to their customers from Ireland. "

Apple’s $1000 iPhone to test customer loyalty

---

Irish ‘Airbnb for dogs’ kickstarts crowdsourcing campaign

---

Cyberattack may have hit 143m customers, says Equifax

---

Privacy Shield is already coming apart at the seams

---

Discovery

Frontline Ventures partner Shay Garvey said: “Often the hardest stage to find finance is when a company is doing customer discovery and this is the area where the programme has the biggest impact.

“We have been very happy with the progress of the companies that have been supported to date and we are excited about broadening the programme for the coming years.”

A series of bookable meetings with the Frontline and AIB teams will be held in AIB branches around the country. The first of these will focus on entrepreneurs in the Fintech sector.

Frontline and AIB will also be holding an open day exclusively for female entrepreneurs.

The programme is now open and applications can be submitted through discovery@frontline.vc