Catalyst’s Inbound Investors Event Welcomes Venture Capital Firms to Invest in Northern Ireland Businesses

Last week, investors from 48 venture capital firms from the UK and Ireland ascended on Belfast for Catalyst’s annual Inbound Investors event.

Held in the new state-of-the-art Ulster University campus in Belfast city centre on Thursday 12 September 2024, Inbound Investors connected high-growth potential Northern Ireland companies with relevant investors through pre-matched meetings, tailored to each participating company.

Organised by Catalyst and supported by headline partner, British Business Bank, Inbound Investors gave 50 fast growing Northern Ireland start-up and scale-up companies the opportunity to meet and pitch to 48 investors, discussing investments of up to £10m+.

Investors at the event travelled from across the UK and Ireland and covered the full spectrum of investment need from Seed Investment through to series B, providing funding to grow successful businesses. Many of the investors are regular guests at Inbound Investors but for others such as JP Morgan, Cornerstone or Atlantic Bridge this was a first time visit or a re-acquaintance with Inbound Investors and the NI EcoSystem. 

Companies who took part in Inbound Investors 2024 included TeamFeePay, Inclutech, Neurovalens and Mantis Live, highlighting the breadth of sectors that the companies attending the event. Inbound Investors is sector agnostic and attracts NI companies working in sectors ranging from health and life sciences, to greentech and enterprise software, to name but a few.

This year, Inbound Investors also welcomed Business Angels Europe to the event to host the ‘Golden Aurora Award’ ceremony. The Angel investment ecosystem has been on a steady rise throughout Europe in recent years, however, women entrepreneurs acting as Business Angels are still underrepresented. Business Angels Europe annual Golden Aurora Award sheds a light on the important contributions of Female Angels to the economy.

The award came to Ireland in 2023 when Mary McKenna was recognised for her contributions to Angel investment. At Inbound Investors Mary passed the mantel onto Annegian Blokpoel who was crowned the winner in 2024. 

Hannah Cummings, Scaling Programme Manager at Catalyst said: “Northern Ireland has continued to buck the trend and grow its Venture Capital investment in the last number of years.  Investment into tech firms was at its highest level ever in 2023. While the research suggests this growth will level off by the end of this year, due to a number of factors, NI has firmly established itself as a key destination for investment thanks to events such as Inbound Investors. The event creates a supportive and collaborative ecosystem for relationships to be built and investment deals to follow-on. 

“With Venture Capital funds playing such a vital role in our economy, it is encouraging to see the number of NI companies taking part.  Inbound Investors also continues to attract high-profile venture capital firms providing vital funding to turn NI start-ups and scale-ups into game-changing companies, consecutively growing our economy.  It proves the talent is here and worth investing in.”

British Business Bank UK Network Managing Director, Warren Ralls said: “We are pleased to once again be joining with Catalyst as the headline partner for Inbound Investors.   

“With non-domestic investors increasingly seeing Northern Ireland as a great place to do business, this initiative continues to be a springboard from which local companies are able to connect with those investors from further afield.  

“It was also great news that this year’s Inbound Investors event welcomed Business Angels Europe to Belfast, highlighting the pivotal role of female angels in supporting entrepreneurial growth and innovation.”

Sponsors for the 2024 Inbound Investors included Amplifi Solutions, Bank of Ireland, Harbinson Mulholland, Haynes Boone, Quilter Cheviot, Ulster University and Whiterock Finance.