Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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336. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the level of take-up of the seed and venture capital scheme to date, in each year since its establishment; the number of jobs supported; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34702/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Successive Governments have invested in the domestic venture capital sector over the last twenty years. This investment has sought to increase the availability of risk capital for SMEs to support economic growth through the continued development of the Seed and Venture Capital industry in Ireland, thereby achieving a more robust, commercially viable and sustainable sector.In parallel with this initiative, a series of other non-bank Government backed funding sources for SMEs have been provided. These measures, in tandem with the many other actions contained in the annual Action Plan for Jobs process, have helped an extra 125,000 people back in to work since the first Action Plan has launched in February 2012.

As part of Budget 2013 the Government committed €175 million to the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2013-2018, with a target to leverage a further €525 million from the private sector making €700 million in additional capital available to high growth SMEs. Following the conclusion of an extensive and in-depth evaluation, the first call for expressions of interest under this scheme has concluded and commitments of €99.5m were made to a number of funds in the technology and life science sectors. All investment activity for 2015 will be reported in the Enterprise Ireland Annual Seed and Venture Capital Report 2015.

In June 2015, I announced a second call at €65m for expression of interest focused on early stage views with a strategy of investing in Irish start-ups. The specific objective is to ensure there is sufficient seed capital in the Irish market to meet demand and to support company creation and commercialisation of research. The deadline for expressions of interest for this process is 31 July 2015. Enterprise Ireland is currently evaluating the expressions of interest received against the published criteria and will make an investment decision in due course.

Under these Schemes, a minimum of double Enterprise Ireland’s commitment must be invested in Irish companies over the lifetime of each fund.

The annual Enterprise Ireland Seed & Venture Capital Report was launched in July. The report highlights that under the 2007–2012 Programme, Enterprise Ireland committed €175 million to continue to develop the seed and venture capital market in Ireland. Up to December 2014, fourteen new funds were launched with an Enterprise Ireland commitment of €174 million. It further noted that in 2014, venture capital funds in receipt of commitments under the Enterprise Ireland Seed and Venture Capital Schemes made 156 investments in Irish based companies, with a total investment value of €62 million. The report is available on the Enterprise Ireland Website.

Since inception, the funds supported under this Scheme have invested the following in Irish Companies;