Bizstartup.ie - NewsInitiative under way to foster corporate spin-outs

Called CorporateSpinouts.com, the initiative aims to create new ventures based on technologies and services that have been developed for and within large Irish-based companies for their own use. The idea is that the venture gets started by initially agreeing a supply agreement with the original company.

Coyle has played a key role in the early commercial development of a string of start-ups, including Eurologic and Intune Networks, but it was his experience at Exceptis that was the main inspiration for him to establish this initiative.

“Exceptis was the most successful venture I was involved in, where a technology originally developed for AIB went on to be adopted by 12 banks in eight countries before Exceptis itself was sold for €26m. I realised the key characteristics of that are in a bunch of other potential spin-outs. Somebody has already paid for the software to be developed and there is a demand for it, so the spin-out is a good bet,” he says.

“Around 2000 I worked with early-stage companies helping them to get started for sweat equity. I gave it up partly because the dot.com bubble burst. A couple of other ventures in subsequent years came good and 16 months ago when I was made redundant I decided I would get back into it on a more permanent basis. Most of what I do is for sweat equity, so I have to be careful to back winners.”

He went about the venture tentatively initially last year and has since moved up a gear. “I knocked on a few doors, but what worked best for me was public relations. I published a few articles and people came out of the woodwork. In the past six months I have had 25 decent enquiries and now have a pipeline of promising new companies that I believe will hit the ground running. I am down to about five which I believe will incorporate within six to nine months and I am aiming for a run rate of one a quarter.”