The sports nutrition company Elivar has managed to generate €700,000 from a number of investors including Enterprise Ireland and the HBAN Food Syndicate among others.  The company specialises in developing sports nutrition products that are targeted and tailored for people over the age of 35.

The announcement of the recent investment in the company will lead to the creation of 10 new jobs by the end of this year. The areas that the positions will be created in are the areas of production, e-commerce, food science and marketing and finance. Michael Culligan, the director of HBAN believes it to be a good investment as the Irish food industry is continuing to grow. In the Republic the food industry accounts for 8.6% of total employment and 11% of all Ireland’s exports which has now passed €9 billion.

The founders of Elivar are Donal Hanrahan and Len Dunne. The pair trained and rowed at an international level in their youth and found that there was no sports nutrition products on the market tailored for the needs of their specific age group, despite having different nutritional needs. Donal Hanrahan was discussing the recent investment into the company and said ““While our initial funding was required to bring Elivar to market, the HBAN Food Syndicate investment also provides us with the active support of some of Ireland’s leading food entrepreneurs.”

He went on to state “In the long term it is their combined experience which will help us develop Elivar to its fullest potential, as a successful Irish food company operating in a global marketplace. The HBAN syndicate model was perfect for us. An issue for companies seeking investment is the time it takes to get in front of the right investors. The Food Syndicate gave us the unique opportunity to address a group of engaged investors, with a specific interest in food investments.”

Speaking about the recent investment into Evilar was Alison Cowzer, the managing director of The Company of Food and a founding member of the HBAN Food Syndicate. She said “We are a very new business angel syndicate, founded under the auspices of HBAN. The syndicate chose Elivar as our first investment as its founders really impressed us. They had clearly researched their market and the growth potential for this business. The clear niche they have identified in the expanding over 35s sports market shows the innovative nature of this product and we see this as a long-term sustainable market.”

Ms Cowzer went on to say “As a new syndicate, we are seeking further business angels to join our group and thereby add to the levels of funding we have available for Irish businesses and the expertise and market insights we can share.”