Sure Valley Ventures

Sure Valley Ventures was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur-investors including Barry Downes and Brian Kinane, who previously co-founded FeedHenry before its acquisition by Red Hat and IBM. The firm describes itself as entrepreneur-led and combines investing with operational experience from building technology companies.

SVV invests primarily in pre-seed and seed-stage AI software, with a focus on enterprise applications, AI infrastructure, intelligent security and related deep-tech areas. It is concentrated on companies in the UK and Ireland but supports founders building for international markets.

Its distinctive strength is technical, hands-on early-stage investing: the team evaluates the underlying technology and helps founders with product, commercial scaling, introductions and follow-on financing. Its third fund had a €30 million first close in 2023, anchored by Enterprise Ireland.