New €140m Technology Investment Fund Announced

Atlantic Bridge has announced a new €140 million investment fund for technology companies with global scalability.

The Atlantic Bridge III fund is supported by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland and has been welcomed by Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton.

The Dublin-based Fund will invest in up to 20 European companies, with investments already closing in seven companies. In addition, it will focus on scaling Irish and European companies in high growth enterprise technology sectors such as Cloud, Big Data, Augmented & Virtual Reality software, Robotics and Internet of Things.

Participants in the new Fund include existing Atlantic Bridge investors, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Enterprise Ireland and the European Investment Fund, along with new institutional investors, including British Business Bank Investments Limited, the commercial arm of the British Business Bank, and a number of institutional pension funds. Atlantic Bridge also welcomes AIB as a new investor into the Atlantic Bridge III Fund and as the strategic banking partner across all its funds.

Atlantic Bridge is the largest indigenous Irish and one of the largest European technology funds, with offices in Dublin, London, Silicon Valley, Beijing and Hong Kong. It has led investment of over €100m in Irish companies. The latest Fund brings the total assets under management of Atlantic Bridge to €400m. Atlantic Bridge also co-manages, with its Chinese partners West Summit Capital, Summit Bridge Capital - a US $100m China Ireland Technology Fund.

Atlantic Bridge, using its international platform and 'Bridge Model', has scaled a range of European companies into the US and Chinese markets - the key markets for technology companies. This model has delivered top decile returns for its investors. Examples of scaled Atlantic Bridge portfolio companies include Movidius, FieldAware, PolarLake, Metaio, Swrve and Glonav. Atlantic Bridge currently has over 20 companies in its funds' portfolio and has achieved 12 realisations with proceeds totaling over €1.7 billion.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD said: "A key part of our jobs plans for the past five years has been increasing the level of funding available to fast-growing Irish companies, supporting more of them to create the jobs we need. Atlantic Bridge has been part of the suite of new funds that our plans have helped to deliver, and I have seen first-hand how the previous funds have been successful in supporting high-potential fast-growing Irish companies to expand. I am delighted to welcome this important new fund, and I wish Brian and the team every success".

Brian Long, Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge, added: "We are delighted to launch Atlantic Bridge III. We already have a number of pipeline investments identified for the Fund and are confident that this will build on the track record of success of our previous Funds. As a growth equity stage Fund, Atlantic Bridge III will focus on taking companies with a solid and exciting business model to the next level, scaling them into key international markets like the US and China."

(MH/LM)