The North East of England is noteworthy in this context, in that its performance on the standardised metrics for Venture Capital is significantly ahead of NI, the next best performing UK region. The data for the Republic of Ireland highlights that it is much
more successful than the UK. Whilst it is beyond the scope of this research, it would be interesting to compare the RoI and UK / NI policy environments and identify the main reasons for the strength of the RoI performance.
Investment activity flourishes in the North East
Investment activity in the North East of England far outstrips the next best performing region (NI). Whilst the NI performance is prodigious in terms of activity, the North East of England is still more than sixty per cent ahead of NI. The North East should be considered as a potential case study for further research to helps to understand the driving factors
behind its success and their applicability to NI.
5.1.2 Venture capital – getting to the kernel of the issue
organisations. The very limited amount of data available makes it particularly difficult to assess the relative health of the sector, challenges that are faced and develop appropriate policies.
The measurement of Venture Capital and Private Equity activity in NI has been a challenge from the outset of the Knowledge Economy Index project and also for researchers and policy makers who work in this area. There is no official data source for Venture Capital and Private Equity data in NI. The main source of UK data is the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) and their counterpart, the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) which have provided data for the Republic of Ireland. The issue that bedevils Venture Capital data provision is that not all Venture Capital companies or funds are members of either the BVCA, or IVCA. Whilst they are the best available sources of data, they do not include a significant number of private sector deals and publicly funded
Crescent Capital, NISPO E-Synergy and the Kernel Capital Development funds, which are funded by Invest NI and are not members of the BVCA, were able to provide data on the number and value of deals completed each year to Invest NI’s VC team for use in this project. Invest NI’s VC team very helpfully provided the data for use in this research and although some fund were not able to provide any data to Invest NI, a reasonable amount of coverage has been attained. Not including the activity of these funds will leave some gaps in the data, but should not significantly impact upon the conclusions drawn from this section of the research.
Venture capital – time for an official survey
As raised in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Knowledge Economy Index reports, there are numerous difficulties with securing adequate data on investment activity in Northern Ireland. There is no single source that captures and reports on all venture capital activity. There is no single source that captures and reports on all venture capital activity for NI which presents significant issues in terms of measuring activity and developing effective policies.
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http://www.ivca.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IVCA-VenturePulse-Q1-2014-Publish.pdf
NICEP’s recommendation is an annual Venture Capital and Private Equity survey or census should be carried out.
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