Barry Downes: I love meeting entrepreneurs who are looking at new ways to do things with software
Barry Downes is managing partner at Sure Valley Ventures, a seed stage investor that recently announced the first close of a new Irish-focused €50 million fund. Prior to this, Barry co-founded Pluto Digital, which was acquired in a £96m reverse takeover last year. He also co-founded Feed Henry, acquired by Red Hat in an $82m deal in 2014, and was chief executive of the TSSG Gateway, now known as the Walton Institute
I’ve always had the view that entrepreneurship is a public good. It creates jobs and new technologies, and fosters dynamism in the economy. I’ve spent over 20 years working in and around start-ups and it’s my view that while it’s great to have multinationals in Ireland, we really need to go all out to back indigenous companies too.
Working at a start-up involves risk and entrepreneurs aren’t always rewarded for the work they put in. ...
