Delta venture success

This significantly exceeded initial expectations of €75m and is well on the way to meeting the target of €150m. Investors in the fund include Wellcome Trust, Enterprise Ireland and the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF). The commitment is the first from the NPRF to a venture capital fund based out of Ireland.

Delta raised its first fund in 1994 and the new fund will continue the firm’s longstanding strategy of investing across diverse sectors such as business services, software, the Internet, semiconductor and medical devices.

Frank Kenny of Delta Partners said: “The market for early stage investing in Ireland and the UK has matured significantly since the heady days of the late 1990s and the technology depression of 2001-2004. We are seeing an excellent flow of new companies developing exciting products and services targeting large global markets. We believe 2007-10 will prove to be one of the most attractive periods for venture investing, given the high level of innovation in Europe and the low level of competition from other venture capital sources.”

Delta has invested in about 50 early stage companies, including Toucan Technology, O’Learys, DRM, Similarity systems, Pharmagene, County Media and recently floated AGI Therapeutics.