Enterprise Ireland has announced a new Competitive Start Fund (CSF) totalling up to €500,000 to support start-ups in the marine technology and agritech sectors.
The fund was launched by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed at the Ocean Wealth Summit in Galway.
The fund will provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with crucial early-stage funding to test the market for their products and services and progress their business plans for the global marketplace.
The Competitive Start Fund
Enterprise Ireland is looking to attract early-stage projects that ideally are able to demonstrate that the product or service has reached minimum viable product stage, at a minimum, live in beta and has demonstrable customer validation with customers.
It also wants to see that there is a fully articulated proposition addressing a clear gap in the market with market research conducted with customers and that suitable channels to international markets have been identified.
Commenting at the launch, Minister Michael Creed said, "I am delighted to launch the Competitive Start Fund for marine technologies and agritech.
"Ireland boasts a diverse and highly-skilled community of entrepreneurs and these sectors in particular are very progressive. Irelands’ marine and agriculture industries are at the core of the Irish economy. Start-ups in these sectors have the capacity and commitment to contribute to global developments and make positive impacts on a global scale."
A Vital Injection
"The Competitive Start Fund for marine technologies and agritech focusses on very specific and highly-skilled entrepreneurs who have immersed themselves in small, but fundamental industries to Ireland’s national and regional economies," said Joe Healy, Divisional Manager, HPSU, Enterprise Ireland.
"While the fund provides a much wider business development support platform, it does also provide a vital injection of funding totaling up to €500,000 to help launch these young and innovative companies with global ambition and bring business ideas to an international market."
This CSF is part of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy for increasing the number and quality of High Potential Start-Up Companies that have the potential to employ more than 10 people and achieve €1 million in export sales within three years.
It will open for submissions on Tuesday, 10th July and will close on Tuesday, 24th July.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
