Firms

Furthr VC

Furthr VC

furthrvc.iefurthr.ie

Furthr VC is the Irish early-stage venture-investment arm of Furthr, previously Dublin BIC. The manager previously traded as DBIC Ventures and announced the Furthr VC rebrand on August 1, 2022. It backs Irish software, technology and medical-device businesses, including AI, data analytics, neurotechnology and healthcare: its own portfolio includes NeuroBell, Ocumetra, Bluedrop Medical, UrbanFox, Tracworx, Everyangle and SilverCloud Health. This venture-investment platform is distinguished from its parent’s acceleration, consultancy and angel-network activities; member investment is not automatically parent treasury cash. Enterprise Ireland publications identify the same Ireland Smart Tech Fund under DBIC Ventures in 2019/2021 and Furthr VC in 2024, supporting manager-brand continuity. The legal fund is The Ireland Smart Tech Fund Limited Partnership, CRO LP2821; the precise registered general partner and every investee’s subscribing vehicle remain unverified and are not inferred from branding. The fund launched in December 2019 and was expanded from approximately EUR23M to EUR32M in August 2022, one vehicle rather than two fund raises. Later government reports give EUR32.118M/32.1M fund-size snapshots, not additional closes. Dublin BIC also historically co-managed the EUR53M AIB Seed Capital Fund with Enterprise Equity; that jointly managed fund’s whole corpus is not wholly allocated to Furthr. Its current top-level team directory names Richard Watson, Colm O’Sullivan and Caroline Smart; two residual biographies are separately qualified as former or tenure-unconfirmed. The current contact page says it is closed for new investments, while subsequent publicly disclosed follow-ons remain valid. No new fund target, aggregate funding facilitated, family wealth or investee valuation is recorded as a closed fund.

Founded
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Type
Venture capital

Funds2

  • The Ireland Smart Tech Fund Limited Partnership€32M

    CRO LP2821, managed under the former DBIC Ventures and current Furthr VC brand. Launched December2019 approximately23M; August1,2022 own announcement confirms expanded32M committed corpus from new and existing investors. Date is this expansion announcement, not exact initial close or cash settlement. One vehicle: original23M and expanded32M are not added as separate closes. Enterprise Ireland2021 gives32.118M and2024 gives32.1M snapshots; these source refinements do not imply new cash. Exact GP/subscribing vehicle not inferred.

  • AIB Seed Capital Fund Limited Partnership — historical joint-management affiliation€53M

    Historical whole-fund committed corpus expanded in2009 to53M, AIB30M/EnterpriseIreland23M. Primary co-manager Enterprise Equity identifies Dublin BIC and Enterprise Equity jointly managing; this is not sole Furthr capital or a new current fund close. Fund established2007, expanded2009; exact full announcement/settlement day not established. Current exact-management tenure unconfirmed, historical source qualification retained.

Team

Operations and support

Caroline SmartCaroline SmartInvestment Associate
Colm O'SullivanColm O'SullivanManaging Partner
Niamh SterlingNiamh SterlingConsulting Partner (former)
Richard WatsonRichard WatsonManaging Partner
Saurabh Kumar (Furthr VC)Saurabh Kumar (Furthr VC)Investment Associate — earlier published biography; current tenure unconfirmed

Co-investing

Atlantic Bridge
Enterprise Ireland
HBAN MedTech Syndicate
Elkstone
Parkview Health

Investments