Elkstone attending Show Me the Money event

Barry Brennan is a venture partner at Elkstone, and he will be taking part in the panel discussion at Enterprise Nation’s Show Me the Money event on Dublin on Thursday 9 June 2022.

Barry will also be on hand to chat to start-ups at the event, so we caught up with him to get the low down on Elkstone.

Who are Elkstone?

A multi-family office and venture fund focused on early-stage Irish companies with scaling potential for investment at Seed and pre-Series A.

What are you expecting to get from the Show Me the Money event in Dublin?

We’ve just launched a new fund. It's €75 million to invest in early-stage scaling Irish start-ups. We just want to get the message out there that Elsktone is somebody to speak to, if you're seeking to raise somewhere in the region of €750,000+.

What are you looking for in the start-ups you invest in?

What we're after are great teams looking to build really large global businesses with something that they think is a unique ‘secret sauce’ or something unique in terms of how they're tackling a big problem involving technology.

A lot of our investments will be in the software space in particular – you can scale those businesses globally from Ireland. We want to build on the indigenous technology infrastructure here, and ecosystem here, and add to that so companies don't have to leave Ireland to scale.

Often, we invest alongside Enterprise Ireland in High Potential Start-Ups (HPSU).

Anyone can reach out to us we don't say no to contact – we don’t necessarily meet everyone because that's not always practical. But if we can help, or give people tips along the way, even if it's not right for us right now, that’s not a problem.

What kind of length of investment do Elkstone look for?

We're long-term investors, we want to build great businesses. Often in venture, you're looking at exits of like five to seven years plus, but we are not thinking necessarily about the exit when we're investing.

We do want to exit but we want it to be good for us as an investor, but also good for the founders. Our philosophy is very much built around working with the founder along their journey and helping them build their business based off founder friendly terms.

Event details

This is a free event on Thursday 9 June at TU Dublin Aungier Street where attendees will gain tips on how to access finance, connect with funders and learn from panel discussions.

What to expect

Hear from opening keynote speaker We are Riley as they share their entrepreneurial journey and offer top tips to raise and manage money.

Join a panel session with funding source experts Barry Brennan Venture Partner of Elkstone Partners and Tom Early Head of Funding and Scaling Solutions, Enterprise Ireland and We are Riley hosted by fund-raising expert Johnny Harte, and ask questions on pitching and funding.

Meet funders from across Ireland who are looking to invest in early and growth stage businesses.

Network with other like-minded business owners and grow your connections.

Connect with accountants who can support with the fundraising process.