Up to €500,000 available in the Ludgate Seed Capital Fund for Start Ups

The summer deadline for the Ludgate Seed Fund applications is fast approaching. Up to €500,000 is available in the Ludgate Seed Capital Fund. Start Ups are encouraged to apply for the seed fund to develop and scale their business, attract new talent, or develop their product or service. The initiative, which has already received applications from local and national start ups aims to support job creation and job retention. The deadline to apply is 3pm, July 15th.

Past seed fund recipients who are located in the hub include tourism company Staypal,Digital Education company, Digedu, and media production company STORI Creative. The purpose of the Ludgate Seed Capital Fund is to accelerate the growth of start-up companies that have the capability to succeed in domestic and global markets while locating some of their operations in the Ludgate Hub.

The fund is designed to enable those companies reach key commercial and technical milestones like employing new staff, secure third party investment and evaluate overseas opportunities. Seed Companies in the Ludgate Hub have unique access to the wealth of knowledge and expertise of the Ludgate Hub Board including Sean O’Driscoll (President GlenDimplex Group), Oliver Farrell (Chairman of Vilicom) and Ronan Harris (MD Google UK & Ireland) to name a few.

Oliver Smith, co-founder of Digedu, said that the Ludgate Seed Fund was an obvious move for his company.

“We didn’t require the infrastructure that somewhere like Dublin provides and then the overheads of running a business out of Skibbereen are a competitive advantage in themselves.

“We’d also be lying if we didn’t say that popping down to Baltimore on a sunny afternoon for a casual sail didn’t play its part.

“Ludgate as a building helps provide structure to an already hectic start-up culture. Reliable internet, a clean space, and the focused atmosphere help fuel us and keep us motivated. Ludgate as a community is an entirely different story. Being surrounded by like-minded people who are willing to share ideas, experiences, their network; it’s amazing. It becomes increasingly clear to the green entrepreneur that no matter what the model, all businesses face the same difficulties at some stage or another. The Hub facilitates us to collaborate and support one another.”

And on West Cork as a business base…

“The way business is conducted in West Cork has lead to a community larger than Ludgate. Working with people in other districts, working with Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office, it’s all more personal. You get to see the whites of everyone’s eyes and people are willing to help you. The support we’ve got so far out of West Cork is great; people really want to see new businesses succeed.”

Hopes for the future…

“For Digedu to succeed here Ludgate itself needs to succeed. I’d like to see more businesses coming down here attracting young intelligent people to the community; a rising tide raises all ships.”

Ludgate CEO Grainne Dwyer said…

”The Ludgate Hub is an excellent place to start, scale and succeed, our start-ups get world class mentoring support from our expert board and Ludgate Network, day to day practical supports and the opportunity to live and work in one of the most spectacular places in Ireland. Demand from start-ups to join the Ludgate Hub has jumped over 450% since last year, proving our state of the art 1GB hub as a place to succeed”

To apply for the Seed Fund, visit www.ludgate.ie/seed-funding or email investments@ludgate.ie. For general queries, email info@ludgate.ie