Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers & Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF)
Accelerate high-potential early-stage innovation through €15k tax-free founder stipends (New Frontiers Phase 2) or €50k–€100k Convertible Loan Notes via Enterprise Ireland PSSF.
Scheme Overview & Underwriting Criteria
The Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF) from Enterprise Ireland provides convertible loan note (CLN) funding of €50,000 or €100,000 for early-stage companies with High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) characteristics. Designed to bridge the gap between initial concept and angel/VC seed rounds.
Approved vs. Ineligible Expenditure Schedule
- •Founder salaries and full-time technical development talent
- •Core software architecture, infrastructure and prototype scale-up
- •International customer discovery and pilot client onboarding
- •Intellectual property protection and patent registration
- •Market validation travel and customer interviews in target export markets
- •Debt servicing, loan repayments, or director loan paybacks
- •Routine operating costs of non-innovative businesses
- •Projects lacking global scalability (e.g. domestic retail, consulting)
- •Retrospective expenditures prior to application evaluation
Required Documents & Assessor Submission Pack
Common Disqualification Red Flags
Assessor Underwriting Warning & Cashflow Timing
PSSF requires an incorporated Irish Limited company and private co-funding match of at least 10% (€5k or €10k) paid in tranches against agreed milestones.
Test your venture against this grant in 60 seconds
Startup Preflight cross-references your concept canvas, headcount, location, and technical work packages against Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers & Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF) underwriting criteria before you apply.