Four Irish high-potential start-ups and companies backed by Enterprise Ireland are to receive €23m in funding from European Innovation Council (EIC) accelerator programme this year.

The EIC accelerator is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe 2021-2027 research and innovation programme. It provides funding to high-potential start-ups and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) capable of creating new tech markets or disrupting existing ones.

Galway-based InVera Medical (formerly known as Venari Medical) and Loci Orthopaedics, Mayo-based Ovagen and Dublin’s Selio Medical are the four Irish companies that have emerged successful in the March 2022 call for EIC funding.

Their selection places Ireland in fifth position in terms of value of total funding in what has become the most competitive EIC accelerator funding call to date. Only start-ups and SMEs from Germany, France, Finland and the Netherlands ranked above Ireland.

“This grant and equity funding will be instrumental in demonstrating the increased viral yield and other key benefits of our world’s first germ-free eggs and will allow scale-up of production for our pharmaceutical and biotech customers,” said Ovagen CEO Dr Catherine Caulfield.

In all, 74 companies from 18 European countries were selected by panels of experienced investors and entrepreneurs to receive €382 million in funding. This was out of more than 1,000 applicants, meaning that the success rate for bagging funding this round was only 7pc.

Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy welcomed the news and said that his organisation’s EIC accelerator activities “align very well with ambitions we’ve laid out in our new three-year strategy” to make Ireland a leading destination for starting and scaling a business.

“This is a great achievement by the four companies involved. Their success is a reflection of the hands on support they receive at different stages of their journey from our research commercialisation, EIC, high-potential start-ups and sector teams.”

AVeta Medical, Akara Robotics, CrannMed, Contego Sports and ProVerum were the Irish companies selected to receive funding and mentorship from the EIC accelerator last October.

“Today is a huge step forward in the execution of our scaling vision to restore circulation to millions of sufferers across the globe,” said InVera Medical CEO Stephen Cox.

“This EIC accelerator funding will hugely benefit the quality of life of EU and US venous leg ulcer patients as we bring our medical device treatment to the market over the coming years.”

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