Venture capitalists hit town!

A conference which aims to bring together companies in the West of Ireland with capital providers takes place at NUIG this Friday, hosted by Galway Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Irish Venture Capital Association.

In addition to venture capital firms, representatives from Enterprise Ireland, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Udaras and the Irish Stock Exchange will be speaking at the event.

Master of Ceremonies for the event is Galway native Harry McGee, Political Correspondent at the Irish Times.

“Obtaining capital is key to supporting the growth of companies,” said Galway Chamber of Commerce President Frank Greene.

“In 2014 we submitted our Economic Development Plan to both the City and County Councils.  One of the areas we identified as requiring attention was access to capital.  The Venture West conference aims to address this,” he added.

Entrepreneurs and companies from across the West of Ireland will be attending the event.

‘The conference provides a platform for companies in the West of Ireland.  It is important that we see strong capital flows into the West of Ireland to support continued growth’, said Maurice O’Gorman who is leading the conference organization on behalf of Galway Chamber.

Keynote speaker at the event, Mike Krenn, who will look at how San Diego has emerged as a hub for start-ups.

The President of the San Diego Venture Group, he is in the midst of a mission to help grow the emerging growth tech community in San Diego – helping companies get their first round of funding, and helping existing companies to grow, and connecting companies both with capital and customers.

He is the founder of both the Tech Coast Angels and CommNexus.  While at DLA Piper (the world’s largest law firm), he founded the Venture Pipeline group – a free service that matches entrepreneurs with capital sources nationally.  He has served on boards for Connect, The MIT Forum, the San Diego Software Council, and numerous other organizations.

During his career, Mike has worked with hundreds of companies and entrepreneurs, helping more than 50 companies raise start-up capital, in excess of $100M.  He also has experience (and empathy) with start-ups, having worked as a COO and VP at a privately-funded technology start-up.

There is a strong line up of 35 speakers from various business sectors, including life sciences and ICT.

Full details for the conference can be found at www.venturewest.ie