Irish Venture Capital Association elects new chairman

Peter Sandys of Seroba Life Sciences to head industry body that represents VC firms here

The new chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association, Peter Sandys: he replaces Michael Murphy, a partner with Investec Ventures Ireland, whose tenure as chairman has come to an end. Photograph: Karl Hussey/Fennells
The new chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association, Peter Sandys: he replaces Michael Murphy, a partner with Investec Ventures Ireland, whose tenure as chairman has come to an end. Photograph: Karl Hussey/Fennells

Peter Sandys of Seroba Life Sciences has been elected chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA), the industry body that represents VC firms here.

He replaces Michael Murphy, a partner with Investec Ventures Ireland, whose tenure as chairman has come to an end.

Mr Sandys, who also chaired the IVCA in 2010, is a co-founder of Seroba, which specialises in investing in breakthrough healthcare technologies.

Since the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, in excess of 1,375 Irish SMEs have raised venture capital of €3.3 billion.

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These funds were raised almost exclusively by Irish venture capital fund managers who during this period supported the creation of up to 20,000 jobs and attracted over €1.37 billion of capital into Ireland, the IVCA said.

It also geared up the State’s investment through the seed and venture capital programme by almost 16 times, the organisation added.