INVESTMENT
Crucible opens office in Northern Ireland
24-05-2001
by
Technology entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland will be able to avail of a USD10 million investment fund which has just been announced by Crucible Corporation.
The development has come with the opening of a Belfast office by Crucible Corporation, the Dublin and Philadelphia-based early stage investment company.
As well as the USD10 million of funding, Crucible's Belfast office will also be offering international-standard business advice for clients.
The company has appointed a Northern Ireland advisory board which includes some of the region's technology, academic and financial professionals and is headed by Denis Murphy of Openwave.
The Belfast office will offer technology start-up companies seed capital funding as well as hands-on guidance with business strategy, sales, technical development and marketing.
The funding for the venture has come from members of the technology community in Northern Ireland, institutional investors and US venture capital organisations.
Returning home to his native Belfast, Crucible founder, Gerry McCrory, said, "We strongly believe that the talent exists in Northern Ireland to produce world-beating technology." He added, "We want to add our experience and financial backing to ensure that talent realises its full potential. The investment in our new Belfast office and our ability to raise over USD10 million of funding is an indication of the strength of this belief."
Headquartered in Dublin, Crucible also has an office in Philidelphia. Co-founded by Gerry McCrory, it invests in entrepreneurs who specialise in technology and helps them develop their concepts into transatlantic operations.
Crucible has a dedicated US commercialisation team based in Philadelphia and a strategic partnership with Cross Atlantic Capital Partners (XACP), a second round investment company with a USD300 million venture capital fund.
Companies backed by Crucible in Dublin include Mobileaware, Marrakech, Nanomat, Openet Telecom, Interactive Enterprise, Aran Technologies and Digiserve.
Commenting on the Belfast office opening, Denis Murphy, who will head up the Advisory Board, mentioned Northern Ireland's history of innovation but said the international marketplace was a tough environment and this was where Crucible would help.
Both McCrory and Murphy were speaking at a reception hosted by Crucible at the W5 discovery centre in Belfast. Also in attendance was US-based Crucible chairman, Don Caldwell, while the guest speaker was another Belfast native, Bill McCabe, chairman of Smartforce.
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