By Business & Finance 
Business & Finance finds that the ITLG is connecting indigenous technology companies with Silicon Valley, encouraging them to scale and go global.
Access to capital, talent, and the world’s largest market, the USA; these are the ingredients that make Silicon Valley the innovation capital of the world.
Silicon Valley, the 40 mile long strip that runs from south San Francisco to San Jose, receives in excess of 40% of all venture investment in the United States through the internationally renowned VC firms based on Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park and in neighbouring Palo Alto. Silicon Valley has access to top talent from the worldclass local universities, Stanford, Berkley, San Jose, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Silicon Valley is the destination of choice for technology entrepreneurs from all over the world and is the envy of every country aspiring to be an innovation hub. The California sunshine and outdoor lifestyle completes the picture.
John Hartnett, founder of the ITLG is a powerful advocate of the Silicon Valley model. Hartnett is also Ireland’s most vocal private sector ambassador, tirelessly supporting the growth of Irish technology start-ups through the ITLG Network.
Over the last six years, the ITLG has grown from strength to strength. Chaired by Dr Craig Barrett, former Intel CEO, the ITLG boasts a network of over 5,000 global members. The organisation constitutes the most powerful and cohesive diaspora business network in the world. The ITLG executive includes Barry O’Sullivan, RTÉ Dragon’s Den star and SVP at Cisco, Rory McInerney, vice president, Intel Architecture Group and Una Fox, vice president of technology at the Walt Disney Company. The ITLG advisory board includes Niall O’Connor, CIO at Apple; John Ryan, co-founder Macrovision; Gerry Staunton, consul general of Ireland; John Denniston, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers; and John O’Farrell, partner, Andreessen Horowitz. Since the 1990s, when the Irish technology industry was primarily focused on manufacturing, there has been a paradigm shift to high value added technology, R&D and management resources and the breadth and depth of companies has changed to reflect this. Many indigenous Irish technology start-ups are now ready to scale and go global.
Driving high growth sector
When the ITLG was formed in 2007 the primary investment focus in Ireland was on property with limited availability of funds for investment in technology. This led to Ireland’s current financial crisis which further limited the availability of funding for technology start-ups. With the exception of the Enterprise Ireland HPSU programme, there was very little by way of support structures for Irish technology companies. Ireland was not ‘on the map’ in Silicon Valley or recognised as a serious player in the technology space. The ITLG recognised this ‘gap’ and was formed to address it. The ITLG has evolved to support this objective by initially forming the network and promoting Ireland and Irish technology through its network, events and summits. The Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh in September 2009 adopted the ideas proposed by John Hartnett and the ITLG to create a Silicon Valley-based Irish Innovation Centre and a diaspora fund. Following on from this, the ITLG established the Irish Innovation Centre in San Jose in March 2010, a US launch pad for Irish technology companies and the Irish Technology Capital Fund, an investment fund focused on early stage investment. The primary goal of the ITLG is to create an investment environment to support the global growth of selected technology start-up companies to reach revenues and profits. To date ITLG members have invested in the order of $10mn and ITLG Awards finalists have gone on to raise over $50mn from venture firms including Intel Capital and investment companies within the ITLG network.
Inward investment
The ITLG works to encourage and support inward FDI into Ireland, the most recent of which was the $100m Silicon Valley Bank investment in Ireland. The ITLG works on an on-going basis with key policy makers to create a supportive economic and legal environment to achieve these goals.
The ITLG’s sister organisation, SVG Partners, now provides investment, and plays a strategic role in the going global process for portfolio companies. SVG Partners introduces these companies to US investors, partners and customers and provides on the ground sales, marketing and operations domain expertise to optimise route to market and to streamline processes and supply chain.
Mcor Technologies, founded by Dr Conor MacCormack and Fintan MacCormack and based Co. Louth, are the inventors and manufacturers of the only line of desktop paper 3D printers in the world. Mcor were finalists in the 2011 ITLG Silicon Valley Awards and the Irish Technology Capital Fund invested in the company. This month, Mcor announced extraordinary growth over the past 10 months, achieving 1200% growth in the number of reselling partners and a 600% increase in sales. This phenomenal growth has prompted further investment of $2mn in Mcor by the Irish Technology Capital Fund. The ITLG continue to focus on investment and engagement with mobile, entertainment and digital media technology companies and are in preparation for the Global Technology Leaders Summit in Limerick in 2014. Registration is now open for the Limerick Summit here.
