The Competitive Start Fund (CSF) operated by Enterprise Ireland is one of the strongest innovations in Government supported fundraising for early stage startups. It is a structured and well-vetted competitive process which allows companies to avail of up to €50,000 in early stage funding from Enterprise Ireland.
Previous calls for Competitive Start Fund investment funding have focused on the Internet, Games, Software, Life Sciences, Cleantech and Industrial sectors. The program is ideally tailored to the needs of these companies. If this is the first time you are learning of the program, you can find out more on Enterprise Ireland’s website here.
In our experience, securing CSF investment is also becoming – by virtue of the success that early recipients of the money have gone on to achieve – an early stage marker for future successful companies. Getting CSF funding can make it easier to raise funding from angel investors or other seed investors such as seed venture capital (VC) funds.
Here at Venture Legal Services, we have developed a suite of services that is designed to allow companies which have been selected to receive CSF investment to complete the necessary agreements and draw down their funding with the minimum of fuss and effort. As part of our commitment to the startup community in Ireland, we offer this package of services at a highly competitive fixed price.
Our services include:
1. Plain English advice on the standard form CSF investment agreement (highlighting parts of the agreement that are material and which should be of interest)
2. Documentation to issue shares to Enterprise Ireland (including board minutes, form B5 and share certificate)
3. Providing confirmation (which must come from an Irish solicitor) to EI of matching funding
4. Issuing a legal opinion / solicitor’s certificate to EI in the form set out in Schedule 3 to the CSF investment agreement
If you would like to learn more about our services, just click here to email us or call Peppe Santoro directly in Dublin on +353 1 6499042.
We look forward to hearing from you.