EIF IN
IRELAND
Investing in the future of Irish SMEs
Small and medium-size enterprises are the heart of the Irish economy.
Representing 99% of all businesses and more than two thirds of the workforce, Ireland's 254,000 SMEs are responsible for driving innovation as well as spurring on growth, and their daily routine is what ensures the competitiveness of the Irish economy. But to do that, they often need finance
At the same time, as the smallest actors in the economy, they are often the hardest hit when the economy encounters turbulence, which is why it is so crucial for them to have financial options in order to maintain and eventually grow their businesses.
At the EIF, our mission is to improve access to finance for small businesses across the EU. In Ireland, we have been supporting SMEs using a broad range of instruments, including many tailored to the needs of the Irish market and designed with the Irish government and local authorities.
As a result, we've been able to support close to 15,000 Irish businesses, ranging from companies using AI for rapid parasite tests in animals and the management of beehives to a digital platform for managing mental health, making sure they have the financial fuel they need to pursue their ambitions.
Our intention is to continue to extend this type of support to the Irish market, making access to finance easier as we collectively move towards a greener, digital and more inclusive Europe.
Success stories
Micron Agritech
Success stories
Micron Agritech
“Parasites are a major issue for livestock, and resistance to medication is a global problem,” explains Daniel Izquierdo, Managing Director and co-Founder of Micron Agritech. “To deal with this problem, farmers need to take dropping samples to a lab, and it can take 5 days to get results. Time is too valuable, so they just dose the entire herd regularly with medication. It’s inefficient, costly, and it causes resistance. Overuse of medication could affect the food chain as well. What goes into animals ends up on our plates.”
With fellow students Sean Smith, Tara McElligott and Jose Lopez from the Technological University of Dublin, the team has built the Micron Kit, allowing farmers to rapid test for gut parasites in cattle, sheep and horses. Using a pen-side portable kit and machine-learning, the samples are turned into usable information and plugged into a smartphone. “Farmers collect the sample, analyse it using our app, and get results in under half an hour,” Daniel explains. The information is relayed to a cloud, where a model built on a dataset of 20,000+ data points identifies the parasite.
CitySwift
“We’re seeing a lot of changes in urban transport. Car ownership is declining in large cities for example, bus sizes are varying, subscription-based transport services are becoming more and more popular, and of course there’s driverless vehicles as well. If we make better use of data, there’s a great opportunity here for everyone,” explains Brian O’Rourke, co-founder of CitySwift.
Brian and his schoolmate Alan Farrelly set up CitySwift, which aims to optimise the efficiency and service quality of urban bus networks by using big data and predictive analytics: “We integrate our software into the bus company’s system and extract very useful data which we then analyse in order to offer solutions. We helped one client adapt local bus routes to better match demand and supply” explains Brian. “It’s a win-win for everyone. Better services for customers, optimised operations for the bus company and more efficient use of the transport network which is good for the environment and local authorities alike.”
Roomex
“Many companies can have a significant percentage of staff staying in hotels at any given time,” explains Jack Donaghy, CEO of Roomex, a Dublin-based company that offers practical and cost-effective solutions for business travel. “Our clients usually spend anything from EUR 100,000 to more than EUR 1 million every year on hotels alone,” he adds.
Roomex operate a global hotel-booking platform for corporate clients, taking care of all the payments and paperwork. “We can save time and costs for our customers. They don’t have to spend time searching, making calls, comparing prices,” Jack explains. “We book hotels below market rates with no charges to our customer, and they only have to deal with a single periodical invoice from us, covering multiple business trips. Last year we estimated the savings we delivered at around 21% compared to market rates.” In addition to savings, companies also benefit from live reporting and benchmarking insights.
ApisProtect
We need bees, and they need us. Their activity is vital for the environment, human health and global food security, but bee numbers are declining and under continued threats, ranging from climate change and biocides to pathogens and suboptimal management practices, but ApisProtect has come up with some novel solutions. Headquartered in Cork, Ireland, the company have developed an innovative system involving sensors, global communications and artificial intelligence that helps beekeepers increase productivity and reduce costs.
Using a combination of IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies, they can remotely extract and interpret data from hives: “Our technology can monitor temperature, movement, humidity and sound, triggering smart alerts to help beekeepers catch problems like pests or disease early, rather than rely on periodic manual inspections,” explains Aoife O’Mahony, Head of Marketing. The technology is small and unobtrusive, similar to the size of a smartphone, but the AI-enhanced technology behind it makes all the difference.
SilverCloud Health
“Our goal is to use technology to tear down the barriers that prevent many people from receiving the care they need,” explains Kevin Higgins, CFO of SilverCloud. “Our interactive and customisable programmes are accessible anywhere, at any time. This overcomes obstacles that might prevent patients from accessing mental health services, such as a lack of clinicians, limited transportation, privacy or stigma concerns. Digital access to treatment also helps in reducing waiting time.”
Born from academic and clinical research at Trinity College Dublin and Mater University Hospital, SilverCloud Health focuses on the digital delivery of mental healthcare. Their team of clinicians, data scientists, technologists and researchers have spent over 15 years optimizing the clinical delivery of effective online behavioural health solutions, empowering users to think and feel better. “We started off looking mainly at depression and anxiety, but we have since enlarged the scope of our work, constantly refining the product and introducing new ideas,” adds Kevin.
Key figures
Over
of EIF financing
Transactions with financial intermediaries
Equity investments since inception
Guarantees support since inception
made available for
Irish businesses
Mandates in focus
The EIF continues to deploy capital in Ireland under a wide range of strategic programmes and mandates. Below are brief summaries of our main initiatives in Ireland.
InvestEU
The InvestEU programme provides the EU with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It is helping to mobilise private investments for the EU's policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. The InvestEU Programme brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments previously available to support investment in the EU, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.
RCR
The EIB’s Risk Capital Resources (RCR) is the core pillar of the EIF’s equity activity. It has enabled us to pursue our equity strategy in the venture capital and growth segments for more than 25 years. In 2023, RCR accounted for 25% of our equity activity, committing €1.4bn to financial intermediaries.
EFSI
The European Fund for Strategic Investments formed part of the EU's Investment Plan for Europe, launched by the European Commission in 2015. EFSI addressed market gaps in financing - whether in infrastructure, research, energy efficiency or risk finance for SMEs – and mobilised private investment into these areas. Through EFSI the EIF deployed €10.5bn in resources of the European Commission, the EIB and the EIF to improve access to finance for SMEs and small midcaps.
IISF
The Irish Innovation Seed Fund (IISF) is the first joint initiative between the EIF, Enterprise Ireland and the National Treasury Management Agency. It is a €60m equity investment programme set up under the NPI standardised programme, targeting funds in pre-seed and seed stages of development across several sectors including ICT, life sciences, social impact and climate. The aim is to invest in 2-3 VC fund managers including new and emerging teams for the benefit of enhancing and widening the local Irish VC funding landscape.
REPowerEU
The EU launched REPowerEU in 2022 to reduce dependence on fossil-fuel imports and accelerate the green transition. To support the plan, in October 2022, the EIB Group developed a package of measures focussing on renewable energy, energy efficiency, electricity networks and on deepening its engagement in green innovation and breakthrough technologies. Under REPowerEU, the EIF will invest €4.5bn by 2027 through EIF equity products.
EAF Ireland
European Angels Fund (EAF) Ireland is a €20m initiative funded by the EIF and Enterprise Ireland - the Irish government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. Established in 2015 as compartment under the regulated European Angels Fund umbrella structure focusing on investment activity in Ireland, EAF Ireland aims at providing equity to Business Angels and other non-institutional investors to finance innovative companies in the form of co-investments.
Irish Households Energy Efficiency
The Irish government entrusted €48m of its national resources to the EIF to cover the first loss piece of the Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme, an 80% uncapped counter-guarantee by the EIB Group to the Irish NPI, the Strategic Banking Cooperation of Ireland (SBCI). The Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme aims to disburse €500m of new loans to private homeowners willing to invest in retrofitting their properties for energy efficiency purposes. The scheme is the first of its kind for both Ireland and the EIB Group.
EGF
The European Guarantee Fund was created by the EIB Group with contributions from Ireland and other Member States to protect companies struggling in the crisis caused by COVID-19. With almost €25bn in guarantees, the EGF allowed the EIB and EIF to swiftly offer companies, mostly SMEs and mid-caps, access to loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, capital and other financial instruments. The EGF forms part of the package of recovery measures put in place by the EU, with the objective of providing a total of €540bn to support the hardest hit sectors of the European economy.
FGLS & GSLS
The Irish government entrusted the EIF with €117.3m under a programme called the Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS) in order to generate a €800m portfolio of new debt finance for SMEs and small mid-caps for long-term investments, tackling the economic consequences of Brexit and of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was deployed with an uncapped counter-guarantee to SBCI: the First Loss Piece was provided by the Irish government and managed by the EIF, and a mezzanine and a senior tranche provided by the EIB and intermediated by the EIF. This cooperation continued with the Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme (GSLS) whereby the EIF managed a further €73.3m of national budget to make available around 500m of new loans. At least 30% of the portfolio of new loans will support green investments or green SMEs.
INCF
The Climate & Infrastructure Funds (INCF) is a facility with an annual investment capacity of €400-600m and a primary focus on climate action & environmental sustainability. Targeting a 70% climate content at portfolio level, the underlying investments are expected to contribute to the ambitious targets set out in the EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap.
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