THE MINISTER FOR ENTERPRISE Richard Bruton has announced a new round of government funding aimed at attracting further venture capital firms to invest in Ireland.

Bruton is currently in San Francisco as part of a five-day visit to the city and to Silicon Valley over the St Patrick’s Day period.

Enterprise Ireland will invest €60m for venture capital funds to establish a presence in Ireland.

The minister said that the aim is to draw experienced entrepreneurs to Ireland as well as investment to generate jobs in Ireland. He said “the ambition” of venture capital investment is to nurture and grow a company like Google in Ireland.

“We need to bring to Ireland not only the money, but the experience that these venture capital funds can bring,” Bruton told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“Many of them are very experienced entrepreneurs who set up in their own right, they’ve access to not just funding but also marketplaces and I think that has been the key success in many countries.”

The minister said that “0.1 per cent of GDP in venture capital has generated 11 per cent of the employment in the US”.

Yesterday Bruton announced the first investment by Enterprise Ireland of $37.5 million (€28.7 million) with the US healthcare venture capital fund Sofinnova Ventures, of which the National Pensions Reserve Fund committed $12.5 million.