Kernel Capital

08 March 2010: Kernel Capital is delighted to confirm that it will invest €100,000 by way of an interest free term loan in Sonru Limited, the winner of the national final of the 'Bank of Ireland Bright Ideas Challenge' competition, held in association with Kernel Capital and the Business Innovation Centres. The company which created a web based tool for remote interviewing competed with three other SMEs to win mentoring supplied by a judge of the event Sean Gallagher, entrepreneur and Dragon on Bank of Ireland's sponsored Dragon's Den series and an investment from the Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund managed by Kernel Capital on behalf of Bank of Ireland and partners.

According to Mark Cunningham, Head of Bank of Ireland Business Banking: "With 85 applications received in total, the competition has clearly proven that drive and passion are two fundamental qualities that Irish businesses require in order to develop and grow. We are very committed to the future of Irish businesses and are approving over 1,000 lending applications each week for SMEs, with drawdowns of over €55.5m per week. Last week alone we supported 637 small business customers. Over 2,000 businesses participated in our recent Show Your Business weeks that were hosted throughout the country in 2009. Through these and other initiatives we will continue to demonstrate our commitment to the SME sector and the economy in the year ahead."

"Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Daniel McCaughan, Chief Technology Advisor (ICT), Kernel Capital said: "In these difficult economic times the ability to sift in recruitment through a thorough on-line video interview process, which is proven to be satisfactory to both interviewer and interviewee, is a valuable contribution to cost and time savings. Sonru has a very strong management team, excellent client validation and a highly scaleable product amenable to an international client base. We expect to see significant market growth in the future."

The 'Bright Ideas Challenge' aims to encourage and support both innovation and enterprise in business start-ups in the early stages of developing their business. Sonru was the winner of the South-East regional final of the competition held in 2009 and received a cash prize of €5,000 from Bank of Ireland coupled with a mentoring and training package from SEBIC (South East Business and Innovation Centre) valued at an additional €5,000. The other finalists in the competition qualified via regional finals held throughout the country in 2009 and included RendezVu from Dublin, Eventovate from Mayo and ResourceKraft from Limerick.

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For further information please contact:

Orla Rimmington, Operations Manager, Kernel Capital.
Tel: +353 21 4928974 / Fax: +353 21 4928977