NORTHERN Ireland’s latest Oscars win is good news for the arts but also for business one of the investors behind the film The Shore said yesterday.
He may not have been able to make it to the Hollywood ceremony but it was a brighter Monday morning than usual all the same for Danny Moore of Lough Shore Investments.
The former Chief Operating Officer with of the NYSE Euronext division NYSE Technologies, Mr Moore played a significant role in the US business setting up in Belfast as Chief Executive of the financial software firm Wombat, acquired by NYSE Euronext in March 2008 for $200 million.
In 2010 he left the firm and last year announced the formation of Lough Shore Investments as a venture capital group.
The Shore, created by two times Oscar nominated writer and director Terry George, is one of the firm’s first major investments, co-funded with partners including the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
“Realistically, I think we should stop with a 100 per cent strike rate,” he joked as he explained the origins of the deal.
Apart from the strength of the winning story line and the potential to promote Northern Ireland to a global audience, he said the production was a chance to prove the potential for a business venture that could bring even more success to the province.
“One of the big reasons that we worked with Terry on this is that he had a really strong vision around the idea that changes in technology Netflix iTunes, iPads, would really transform the way that people consume short films,” he said.
“That idea was much bigger than just The Shore and we are really curious to see how it develops over the next few years.
“At the moment the guys have just pointed out that we are trending number one on iTunes for short films so, to that extent, Terry’s original vision seems to be working out reasonably well.”
“This was one of our first projects after I left NYSE. Terry came to us with a really well thought out business plan. At the very first meeting he explained his strategy to get an Oscar so he’s delivered on that. He also explained how that fitted in with this broader idea of changing the way that short films are commercialised using the internet.
“We thought it was a great project in its own right but what was really interesting was the way it fitted into that bigger vision.”
The win now means the partnership will have to get busy he admitted.
“To be honest its something that we hadn’t put any energy into pending the Oscars so I think we need to sit down in the next few weeks and re-evaluate if and how we move that whole thing forward.”
Across the wider business scene, he said the role of venture capital as a means to getting funds flowing into the economy was important.
“I think we can really be a powerful force in that whole investment and business development process, especially in the technology side but, with The Shore, we have demonstrated that we’re not a one trick pony.
“There are some really big clusters of success in some very forward looking industries.
“I think the foundation is being put in place at the minute and in 10 years’ we’ll look back and think that really was a formative period for Northern Ireland.”