Enterprise Ireland Supports for Entrepreneurs/Start-Ups moving to Ireland

Enterprise Ireland offers a comprehensive range of supports to make it as easy as possible to set up your business in Ireland and to grow on global markets.

Our supports have been fine tuned to the needs of entrepreneurs, based on extensive and successful experience. Over the past two decades, we have invested in over 800 innovative, export oriented start ups. 78% of the companies we have supported over that long period are still alive, which is very high by international standards. This illustrates the quality of the supports available to you. We currently support over 70 new start ups each year, with a target to grow this number to 100 per annum.

All our support is channelled through a specific, experienced Enterprise Ireland adviser assigned to assist you through the start-up and growth phase.

Our support is free or heavily subsidised. We can do this because we are funded by the Government to grow Irish companies. We are therefore selective about who we support. The level of support is related to the project’s potential benefits to Ireland. Think of us as your partner in Ireland.

Details of our start up Supports

The supports available to you are described in more detail elsewhere on this website, but are summarised below.

Funding
Advice, mentoring and introductions
Practical help to enter overseas markets

Funding

Funding is available in two forms:

Investment Support: Projects coming from overseas, that are fully investor ready and meet all our criteria can apply for support under €10m fund to attract international start ups to Ireland.
Pre-Investment Support: Projects that meet our other criteria and have made some progress but are not fully investor ready can apply to attend an accelerator programme. Some participants on Accelerator Programmes can receive an Enterprise Ireland grant to cover living costs. Some Accelerator Programmes also provide a similar level of funding in the form of an equity investment for a small stake, typically about 6%.

We will not provide all the funding required to get a company started; you must invest some yourself and/or raise it from commercial sources. We can help with advice and introductions to other investors in Ireland.

When you get past the start up stage, other financial assistance is available to help you to keep growing. We can also fund companies who relocate to Ireland and expand here.

Advice, mentoring and introductions to get you started

We can help you plan your business and build your networks. We can also provide access to advice on all aspects of setting up and growing a business in Ireland. We do this in a variety of ways and for companies at all stages of growth:

Advice and support from Enterprise Ireland staff
Assigning you a mentor, at no cost to you, from our panel of several hundred experienced business people who have volunteered to help companies like you
Introductions to advisers, potential non executive directors, research centres with relevant technology, potential investors, suppliers etc.
Incubation programmes designed to help start ups get their business off the ground. These include workshops, mentoring and incubator space. Other programmes help established companies improve their growth prospects.
Free access to some of the leading commercial sources of market research reports, company databases etc.

Practical help to enter overseas markets

Our 30 offices worldwide, staffed by 150 marketing professionals, provide a comprehensive range of export supports . These supports are designed to help you, and companies like you, plan and implement your international marketing strategy. They are particularly helpful in securing your first key reference customers.

Our entire overseas network has actively built relations with the type of customers our clients target. We may already have a relationship with your dream customer.

How to Access our Services/Contact Us

Enterprise Ireland supports are only available to certain categories of entrepreneurs and companies. Learn more about qualifying for Enterprise Ireland supports.