Barry Downes named in the Business Post's Connected 100

Congratulations to our Managing Partner, Barry Downes, on his inclusion in the Business Post’s Connected 100 — Connected’s list of the most influential people in Irish tech.

Barry has been backing AI software founders since 2017, well before it was the consensus trade. He has spent a career on both sides of the table — building and exiting companies himself before helping others do the same — and that operator’s instinct is what founders in our portfolio get on day one.

We were just as glad to see so many people we work alongside on the list. Big congrats to Jentic Co-Founder Sean Blanchfield, Raluca Saceanu from Smarttech247 and congratulations to our fellow investors at Atlantic Bridge, Act Venture Capital, Delta Partners Ltd., Frontline Ventures, Molten Ventures and Tapestry VC and to everyone named among the most influential in Irish tech.

Special shout out to those included, who are building the infrastructure and network layer enabling Ireland’s Entrepreneurs — Jenny Melia, Donnchadh Cullinan, Diarmuid O’Brien, Frank Brennan, John Breslin, Fergal Brosnan, Ian Browne, Ronan Cunningham, Neil Gordon, Emma Heaton-Esposito, Eamon Leonard, Fiona Kelly, Mary Rodgers, Patrick Walsh.

A list like this is also a useful reminder of why we invest where we do. The depth of technical and commercial talent on this island is not a footnote to European tech — it is the reason we back companies here, and the reason we expect the next generation of global AI businesses to come out of this ecosystem.

To everyone on the list: well earned. Big thanks to Charlie Taylor, Elaine Burke and the Business Post team for all their work in assembling this list.

First published on SVV’s LinkedIn page.