Michael Clyne from Path Pacific who did the wonderful Facebook Garage Videos has put together a Vimeo Video Channel for Enterprise Ireland. It kicks off with all the talks at the recent EI New Software Economy Seminar and speakers include Chris Hofmann of Mozilla, Jim Cuddy of EI, Joe Drumgoole of Cloudsplit and Fergus Gloster of Thomond Technology.
I was really pleased to just get a mail from West Cork Enterprise Board about the Tánaiste’s announcement of changes in the way that CEBs can help small businesses. This could really transform the way that grants are handled around the country and finally puts an end to the silliness of people trying to capitalise the un-capitalisable in order to get CEB support.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D., has today announced new initiatives aimed at supporting the development of new businesses and fostering an entrepreneurial culture in Ireland. New financial supports, consisting of a Priming Grant, a Business Expansion Grant and a Feasibility/Innovation Grant will replace the existing Capital, Employment and Feasibility Grants being operated by the County & City Enterprise Boards (CEBs).
The Tánaiste announced that she has approved a significant broadening of the financial supports that the CEBs can offer their client businesses. The effect of the move is to broaden the scope of the start up and development costs that can be assisted. As a result of these changes, supports will now be available for all legitimate business costs directly attributable to starting a new business, or growing and developing a business, rather than being restricted to asset acquisition.
Today saw the launch of a new joint initiative between Enterprise Ireland and the Internet Growth Alliance headed by Colm Lyon of Realex called iGAP.
Over 6 months from November 2009 onwards, iGAP will focus on practical learning and intensive support for Irish web businesses who wish to grow aggressively at an international level.
The programme will culminate in a funding pitch scenario where the participants be put to the test by experienced venture capital and angel investors. Participants will also be partnered with an experienced business leader who will act as an implementation coach to ensure the programme learning is embedded into the company.
The full cost of the Internet Growth Acceleration Programme is €10k per company (2 participants). Enterprise Ireland will fund 80% of this cost leaving a company fee of €2k.
A very welcome aspect of the programme is that it is open to to non-clients of Enterprise Ireland too so it won’t be a love-in of the usual suspects. The presence of some real heavy hitters in the industry means this really is a very serious initiative and has tons of upside for those who participate.
dbTwang – the web's favourite community for those who share a passion for guitars – has just closed its seed round, and also welcomes the participation of Colm Lyon (of Realex Payments) in the round.
The upper limit of funding for projects is €25k in total project value for a 3 month project.
All applicants will be required to attend a pitch training workshop on 14th October 2009, 14.00 – 17.00, at the NDRC. This workshop will provide an overview of the NDRC approach and vital information on how to present a convincing pitch.
It’s that time of year again where start-ups all over the island are busy tweaking their business plans for the Seedcorn competition. There is still enough time if you start now and you’re missing out on a big opportunity if you don’t. There is €360,000 in prizes up for grabs.
Do you meet the following criteria?
In the seed, startup or early stages of business development
Incorporated on the island of Ireland
Not more than 5 years old at Friday 25 September 2009
Have a new equity requirement of at least €100,000 (or sterling equivalent)
Have cumulative sales targets of less than or in excess of €5m by year 3,4 or 5
SmartCamp is an exclusive networking and mentoring event for entrepreneurs with global ambitions. The program is dedicated to great entrepreneurs who believe that technology can make our world a better place. It provides access to world-class advisors plus a direct route to seed and venture capital.
Five finalists will be invited to attend an intensive 1 day event session on October15th. This event will be held in the Dublin City Council My Dublin Conference Centre located at the Civic Offices on Wood Quay, Dublin.
Each company will meet and have informal discussions with groups of experienced entrepreneurs, international VC's and executives from large corporations. A total of 25 mentors will be split into teams of 5, meeting each company seperately for a 45 minute roundtable.
An overall winner will be chosen and announced at the closing of the event.
Partners involved with Smartcamp include Seedcamp and the NDRC
At Mobilize 09 in San Francisco today, Dublin startup, Locle will announce the opening of their location services platform to 3rd parties as well as its exclusive integration with Netlog, the largest European Social Network.
According to CEO, Pieter Oonk, growing interest from publishers and online communities to incorporate location elements into an existing experience made Locle decide to offer a number of Web Services to allow for rapid integration of location and notification elements into mobile and traditional web sites.
The customizable location platform offers a new revenue stream for social apps, networks and online communities:
The platform can be used for:
user location and nearby lookup
social networks mash-up
Serendipity messaging
Revenue API
The location services platform can help online communities increase average revenue per user and improve community through location as it bridges the gap between digital and live encounters for dating, live music events, travel and others.
The location services platform has been used to develop Locle for Netlog – the first Mobile Application that works with Netlog, Europe’s largest social network. Based in Gent, Belgium, Netlog has over 52 million members throughout Europe. The Locle mobile clients interact directly with Netlog.com, report location and help users find who's nearby- in the application, on the ‘canvas’ pages and users’ profile pages.
30th of September 2009 by conor
25th of 
