Infosys sets up $10-m Irish start-up fund

Infosys has set up a $10 million fund in Ireland in a bid to partner with the country's start-ups.

This investment comes on the back of a tie-up with Allied Irish Bank, a financial group that has operations in Ireland and UK, according to company officials.

The funding of start-ups in Ireland is a part of the $500 million Innovation Fund set aside by CEO Vishal Sikka after he took charge of the company last year, in a bid to look at growth from disruptive new technologies.

“Our investment in the Irish start-up community reflects our belief that Ireland is a strong and vibrant nation, home to entrepreneurs who share our vision of technology as a way to drive growth,” said Mohit Joshi, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Financial Services, Infosys.

Further, Infosys will also set up a 200-seater capacity in Dublin. Infosys does not give a breakup of employees in Dublin and did not say how many employees will be transferred but said that this facility will have employees working on application development, management, transformation and innovation services for the bank.

However, according to IBOA, the finance Union based in Ireland in its website said that the Union will now enter into talks with the managements of AIB and the two service providers on the implications of this decision for the 300 staff who are affected by this development – including approximately 200 who have been earmarked for transfer. Wipro is the other partner of AIB, sources added.

Industry watchers pointed out that companies in Europe are increasingly looking at cost reduction and innovating in newer areas in the backdrop of a recession. Infosys clocked revenues of ₹12,829 crore from Europe, which is around 25 per cent of its overall revenues from software services and products at the end of 2015 financial year.

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