Duke of York guest of honour at Northern Ireland Science Park reception
HRH the Duke of York is guest of honour at reception and dinner hosted by Northern Ireland Science Park at Hillsborough Castle
Earlier this evening, HRH the Duke of York met representatives of Halo, the NI business angel network. It has facilitated the investment of nearly £7m by business angels into NI companies.
Halo runs large meetings where over 50 business angels view short, sharp pitches by carefully prepared companies seeking investment. A further10-20 angels will also watch the pitches on line and this allows Halo to engage with many non-NI investors. 15% of the Halo angels are based outside NI, including many in London. The Hillsborough event, while clearly a very special occasion, is nevertheless a normal Halo meeting. This means that seven companies are pitching ‘for real’ to the largely angel audience. Historically one in five companies who pitch at Halo win funding. During the evening there was the opportunity for representatives of the Northern Ireland Angel Network to meet the “pitching” companies.
HRH was greeted on arrival by the Lord-Lieutenant of County Down, Mr David Lindsay, and went on to meet Sherriff for County Down, Mr Simon Brien, and Minister of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Andrew Robathan MP.