Mr. Richard Watson:

We work very closely with Enterprise Ireland which gets upwards of 1,000 referrals every year. Where it identifies companies that have potential but are too early in their development to be able to access high-potential start up funding, it refers them on to us. Our consultants would then work with those companies on the business planning and strategy side of things as well as on fund-raising strategies.

We might work with some of those companies for up to a year, though sometimes for only six months, to get them to a point where they are investor ready. The initial process is our client assistance programme, where we work hands on with the promoters. When we get the companies to a stage where they are investor ready, we re-engage with Enterprise Ireland. In parallel, through our two sources of access to finance, the seed fund and the Halo Business Angel Partnership, we often get these companies to a stage where they are raising funding from Enterprise Ireland, from the seed fund and from one or more private sources. We help to syndicate rounds of funding. We work closely with the likes of Enterprise Ireland and get a lot of referrals from it. Similarly, companies suitable for high-potential start up funding are sent directly to us. There is a kind of dual direction in terms of referrals.