EOGHAN JENNINGS, the former chief financial officer of online business networking company XING, is aiming to back 10 technology start-ups in the first round of a new venture called Startupbootcamp.
The three-month programme will take its first entrants this summer and is linked with similar projects in Madrid and Copenhagen.
It allows participants to tap into a pool of expertise and access private equity. Those taking part will give up an 8% stake in their business in return for financial backing and intensive expert support and networking.
Jennings has lined up 18 technology entrepreneurs including Brian Long of Atlantic Bridge, the private equity firm; Martin Kelly, a partner in IBM Venture Capital; Raomal Perera, the founder of Network365 and Sean Baker, a co-founder of Iona, to support the venture.
Jennings, who was part of the original team that floated XING for €150m in 2006, left the company in 2009 to develop and invest in other businesses.
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“Ireland is a great place to start a business,” Jennings said last week. “We have to grow ourselves out of this mess.”
He said he hoped the majority of start-ups in the programme would come from overseas, with just two out of the 10 expected to hail from Ireland.
“Entrepreneurs are the most mobile part of society. They will come here if they have the right environment,” he said.
Startupbootcamp is also a member of TechStars Network, an alliance of independently owned and operated start-up accelerator programmes in 25 cities in America, England, Israel and Ireland.
Jennings is seeking 5,000 sq ft (464 sq m) of high-spec office space in Dublin city centre for the project.