Orla Rimmington, Operations Manager, Kernel Capital; Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation, Batt O’ Keeffe TD; Lorraine Spillane, Treasury Manager, Global Markets, Bank of Ireland; Fergal O’ Byrne, CEO, Sonru (from left to right).

Cork, Ireland, 24 May 2010: Kernel Capital confirms that the Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund has closed a €100,000 seed investment in Sonru Limited. The announcement was made in Cork by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O'Keeffe TD. This investment is in addition to €172,000 in funds raised through private BES and Angel investment sourced by the Company.

Commenting on the announcement, Fergal O’ Byrne, CEO of Sonru Ltd, which has created a web based tool for remote interviewing, said: "This investment is a validation of our business plan and our business model. The funds will help us to develop our product range and to source and sign new resellers. We have an aggressive growth strategy and this investment by the Bank of Ireland Seed Fund will help to deliver it."

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."

Sonru’s CEO, Fergal O’ Byrne confirmed an exclusive partnership with IrishJobs.ie which will enable the recruitment website to become the first of its kind in Ireland to offer online video interviewing. "We are delighted to partner with IrishJobs.ie. They are a very enthusiastic adopter of new and innovative technologies and video interviewing fits perfectly with their existing product suite and offers real value to their customer base. We are currently working with other websites within the saongroup.com portfolio, parent company of IrishJobs.ie, to develop our overall strategy of global growth," he said.

IrishJobs.ie currently advertises over 16,000 job vacancies sourced from nearly 1,000 active clients. IrishJobs.ie on-line jobs index of 2010 for Q1 revealed an increase of 9% in jobs advertised online in Ireland since Q4 2009. Gregory Owens, Sales Director, IrishJobs.ie, added: "With the addition of online video interviewing technology, customers will now be able to get a genuine experience of each candidate before they ever meet them in person through Sonru’s secure video interviews. Online video interviewing will enable employers to save time and money when choosing the successful candidate, while at the same time ensuring that they a making the best choice when short listing candidates."

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For further information please contact:
Orla Rimmington, Operations Manager, Kernel Capital.
Tel: +353 21 4928974 / Fax: +353 21 4928977

Notes to Editors:

About Sonru www.sonru.com
Sonru is an automated online video tool. It has applications within the Recruitment, Education, Training and CRM sectors. Sonru provide secure, shareable video interviews. The tool can be used anywhere video can bring efficiencies to a business process.

About Kernel Capital www.kernelcapital.ie
Kernel Capital and its associate Life Science investment firm Seroba Kernel have in excess of €200m under management in five separate Venture Capital funds, investing in ICT, Life Science and general seed and early stage investments. These funds are supported by Enterprise Ireland, Bank of Ireland, the University of Limerick Foundation and a range of other financial institutions. They have invested in Kernel Capital’s portfolio of 32 companies which collectively employ in excess of 600 people, had a 2009 turnover of €72m and have been granted 133 scientific patents. Kernel Capital and Seroba Kernel are committed to dynamic, innovative, knowledge based companies and so far this year have lead €12.5m of investment in eight such companies. These early stage intellectual property driven companies are located in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Tralee, Galway and Wexford. Kernel Capital believe that it is an exceptional time for investment and anticipate a significant number of transactions for the remainder of the year.