Appointment of new chair of venture capital body comes at a critical time for tech investment in Ireland.
Atlantic Bridge general partner Gerry Maguire has been named as the new chair of the Irish Venture Capital Association.
Maguire replaces Denise Sidhu, partner of Cork-headquartered Kernel Capital who has completed her term in office.
“While we are developing innovative, exciting, indigenous technology start-ups we must put in place mechanisms to source private capital to scale them up to international winners”
The Irish Venture Capital Association is the representative organisation for venture capital and private equity firms on the island of Ireland.
Last year venture capital investment into Irish tech start-ups and SMEs totalled over €1.3bn.
Mechanisms for success
Maguire was one of the co-founders of Irish established Atlantic Bridge, a major deep tech investor in sectors such as AI, Semiconductors, Quantum Computing and Cyber Security. The venture capital firm, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, has offices in Dublin, Palo Alto, London, Munich and Paris and has over €1 billion of assets under management.
Maguire said that his election to the chair of the IVCA came at a critical time for Ireland’s indigenous tech sector and the economy in general, due to global geopolitical uncertainties and Ireland’s over reliance on both international venture capital investors and vulnerability to multinational corporation tax receipts.
“In the first quarter of 2024, international funding into Irish SMEs fell by 57% to €184m from €425m last year. While we are developing innovative, exciting, indigenous technology start-ups we must put in place mechanisms to source private capital to scale them up to international winners.”
Before joining Atlantic Bridge, Maguire was vice-president R&D at Parthus Technologies which was floated on Nasdaq in 2000. Prior to this he worked with several international technology companies including Philips in the UK and S3 Group in Ireland.
Since joining Atlantic Bridge in 2004, Maguire, an electronic engineering graduate of Trinity College Dublin, has played a key role in a number of its portfolio companies.
His current focus is on investments in Atlantic Bridge Fund IV, a €260m growth equity fund, and the Atlantic Bridge University Bridge Fund, a €60m fund aimed at spinouts from Irish third level institutions.
Main image at top: Gerry Maguire, chair, Irish Venture Capital Association
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