MORE than 80 investors from London and the rest of the UK have gathered in Belfast to consider deals with local start-up and scale-up companies.
The two-day event organised by Catalyst has the potential to unlock significant funding for some of the north’s most innovative firms, allowing them to pitch to venture capitalists, family offices and syndicates.
Organiser Alan Watts from Catalyst said it’s the largest number of funders ever to come to Northern Ireland at the same time, offering local firms with global aspirations the chance to accelerate their growth.
It’s also the first significant inbound conference in Belfast since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
The investment firms include Ada Ventures; Amadeus Capital Partners, Deepbridge Capital; Downing LL; Draper Esprit; Foresight Group; Forward Partners; Fuel Ventures; IQ Capital Partners; Mercia Asset Management; Octopus Ventures Ltd; Par Equity; and Playfair Capital.
“We have seen interest in innovative, high potential Northern Ireland companies growing over the past few years from the UK and international VC community, which can be seen in some of the funding rounds secured by firms like Sidequest, Cloudsmith, Cumulus Neuroscience and B-Secur over the past 12 months,” said Mr Watts.
“The VCs in attendance are interested not just in companies who are raising now, but also in building relationships towards future potential rounds. We hope a number of deals will originate from the connections established here.”
Inbound Investors is backed by the British Business Bank, Belfast City Council and Innovation City Belfast.
