A $300m Irish-led fund plans to tell startups 'yes or no' in just a few weeks
Athlone Ventures will be headed by Kilkenny-based ex-rock star Brendan Morrissey.
A NEW IRISH-LED venture capital firm is aiming to get an edge on the competition by offering a 10-day turnaround on funding deals.
The investment firm, called Athlone Ventures, has a $300 million war chest and is a joint venture by Kilkenny-based former musician Brendan Morrissey and billionaire British businessman Jojar Dhinsa.
It is a subsidiary of Dhinsa’s Athlone Group – a firm he founded in 2000 to provide business development services to fort and not-for-profit organisations. The group has annual sales of $15 billion, according to Disa.
Morrissey told Fora the motivation for setting up the investment firm came from seeing a gap in the market.
He said startups in both Ireland and overseas aren’t getting the financial support they need at the right stages.
“I’ve been in tech for a long time, for about 12 years. I’ve always been dealing with VC firms, and I see the pitfalls of what’s happening and how tech isn’t getting funded.
“So a lot of startups never get off the ground. We’re going to try to change that for entrepreneurs.”
Dhinsa, who is putting his own money into the fund, said that Athlone Ventures aims to stand out from the competition by turning around funding deals, which normally involve protracted due-diligence processes, a lot quicker.
“One of the pitfalls I’ve found when you’re looking for (capital) is the timescale. A lot of VCs do a lot of due diligence.
“You can be with somebody for a whole year following them around but you’re not going to find out whether they’re any good or not until you put money in.
“Our turnaround strategy will be like 10 days or two weeks max. It will be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. When you’re raising funds a lot of these VCs we’ve looked at, they take too long in making a decision and what can happen is the entrepreneur gets bored, and it’s soul-destroying.”
Brendan Morrissey
The new fund will be headed up by Morrissey, who became a serial tech entrepreneur following his career in the music business.
In the 1990s, Morrissey was part of the Irish band My Little Funhouse, which signed a multimillion-euro record deal with Geffen Records and toured with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns ‘N’ Roses.
He has set up a number of tech companies and is currently co-founder and chairman of Kilkenny-based Mobstar – an app that can be used to host online video-based competitions.
Morrissey said Athlone Ventures intends to back up to 15 startups a year that are looking for either seed or series A funding.
He added that the initial $300 million has been completely funded and that the firm is in talks to raise further money from investors.
“We’re talking to some managers to raise a bigger fund so it depends on how this goes in the first 18 months. We know what we’re doing and what we’re looking for as well.”
Dhinsa said he is particularly interested in backing startups focused on big data, although the fund is not focused exclusively on any sectors.
“I like data. By profession I’m an oil trader, so the new data is a new oil.”
Morrissey added the fund already has 10 pitches from startups but the firm is “a few months away” from signing its first cheque.
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