Fidelity meets likely start-ups

WITH CURAM Software and NewBay selling recently for significant multiples of its investment, Fidelity Growth Partners Europe has been back in Ireland this week to meet promising start-ups.

London-based Fidelity, formerly Fidelity Ventures, last year raised a £100 million (€119 million) fund for European investments, and Irish firms could get a large slice of that money.

“Ireland has been very good to me,” says Simon Clark, partner with Fidelity. “We are looking for companies that have the potential and aspiration to be great. Our pitch is we will give you enough money to really expand on a global basis.”

Fidelity last night hosted a dinner in Dublin for a dozen of what it sees as the “best up-and-coming businesses locally”.

It previously invested $14 million in mobile software specialist NewBay, which was acquired by BlackBerry maker RIM last November for $100 million, and put $10 million into Curam, which was acquired by IBM earlier this year.

It is also a significant investor in Cork compliance software maker Qumas.

Although Fidelity’s portfolio companies have primarily been enterprise plays – selling to large businesses or service providers – Clark says there are opportunities in the way the software industry is changing.

He mentions cloud security, e-commerce, storage and firms that are “rethinking old, slightly sleepy businesses” as some of his areas of interest.

“You have got to know what you specialise in, and we help European companies grow and become global businesses.”

While Clark says he is aware of Innovation Fund Ireland (IFI), which provides State money to venture-capital funds relocating or investing here, his firm has not looked at it in detail.

However, Fidelity enjoys a “remarkably good” relationship with Enterprise Ireland, he adds.