Barry Downes
Managing Partner @ Sure Valley Ventures
Waterford, Ireland
Barry Downes is an experienced technology investor, entrepreneur and technologist with extensive domain experience in Artificial Intelligence, Security Technologies and Immersive Technologies. Barry is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Sure Valley Ventures, which he founded in 2017. He is a software founder turned investor, having founded several technology businesses throughout his career, including FeedHenry, a leader in mobile cloud technologies, which was sold to Red Hat/ IBM in 2014. Previously, Barry was CEO of the leading academic software research and futurist institute, the Walton Institute, which worked with many of the top Silicon Valley and European global software companies on advanced technology research and futurist projects. He is also an advisor to the European Commission’s European Innovation Council, which is focused on developing Europe’s next unicorns with an allocated budget of over €1 billion. Barry holds a BSc in Applied Computing from Waterford Institute of Technology, an MBA from Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin and executive qualifications from Henley Business School in the UK, Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkley, in Venture Capital. He is also a Certified Investment Fund Director (CIFD), awarded by the Institute of Banking (IOB) and is registered with the FCA.
- Total investments:
- 20
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 55%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Barry Downes invests in
Stages Barry Downes invests in
Countries Barry Downes invests in
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
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| Work phone | ||
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Investment Focus
Industry
- Artificial Intelligence 7 (35%)
- Software 6 (30%)
- Information Technology 4 (20%)
- Cyber Security 3 (15%)
- Virtual Reality 2 (10%)
Stage
- Seed 8 (40%)
- Pre-Seed 4 (20%)
- Series A 3 (15%)
- Funding Round 2 (10%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 2 (10%)
Country
- United Kingdom 8 (40%)
- Ireland 6 (30%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Souk enables SaaS firms to recruit, launch and manage channel partners easily and accelerate deals together. | $1.6M / Pre-Seed / Sep 03, 2026 | ||
| BeCertain develops medical imaging software that applies artificial intelligence to support dental diagnosis. The company focuses on cloud-based clinical decision support tools that help dentists interpret 2D radiographs and 3D cone beam computed tomography scans. Its platform uses machine learning, statistical models, and image segmentation todetect dental pathologies, highlight critical anatomical structures, and assign confidence metrics to findings. The software is delivered through a browser-based, zero-installation interface designed to integrate with existing dental imaging workflows. BeCertain collaborates with oral health researchers and clinical practitioners to iteratively validate its algorithms and ensure defensible diagnostic outputs. The company targets dental practices, radiology services, and academic or hospital-based dental units seeking to standardize image assessment and reduce diagnostic variability. | $2.3M / Pre-Seed / Jul 16, 2026 | ||
| Xylo offers higher quality processes with full officer oversight, reducing planning uncertainty and boosting UK housing delivery. | $3.7M / Pre-Seed / Jul 01, 2026 | ||
| CameraMatics is a cutting-edge software platform that enables companies to manage fleet and driver risk by improving safety, reducing collisions and operating a safe, compliant fleet. | $56.6M / Venture - Series Unknown / Jun 10, 2026 | ||
| Mirror Security provides technology that allows AI systems to process encrypted data without exposing it in plain form. The VectaX encryption engine is designed for AI workloads and is available as an SDK for integration with existing systems. The service includes encrypted AI memory, enabling storage of prompts, history, and vector databases whilekeeping them encrypted. It also offers encrypted AI models where inputs, outputs, and layers remain encrypted end to end. The Discover tool scans AI platforms for threats such as prompt injection, model leaks, and other risks. AgentIQ monitors AI agents in real time, detects unusual behavior, and keeps detailed logs for auditing and compliance. Mirror Security also supports compliance with data protection regulations through cryptographic guarantees. | $2.5M / Pre-Seed / Dec 02, 2025 | ||
| Astut revolutionizes AI for high stakes unseen decisions. | $2.1M / Seed / Oct 23, 2025 | ||
| RETìníZE is an AR, VR, multi-screen installations, and software development. | $1.6M / Feb 25, 2025 | ||
| Stylus automates the assessment and feedback procedure in schools by using artificial intelligence. | $658.8K / Seed / Sep 05, 2024 | ||
| Vortex IQ employs proprietary AI algorithms to detect and analyze data for merchants. It removes the guesswork from data analysis by delivering actionable recommendations and safely implementing it on a staging site, allowing businesses to test before going live. | $1M / Seed / Jul 02, 2024 | ||
| Inspeq AI uses metric-based evaluation and improves model performance, helps detect responses with low factual accuracy, and prevents them before serving to the end-users. | $1.1M / Seed / May 28, 2024 | ||
| See all 20 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Sure Valley Ventures
SVV is a UK and Ireland focused VC Firm that since 2017 has invested in high potential, AI software companies. The team are former Founders turned Investors, bringing their decades of entrepreneurial experience to bear on finding the very best company founders to invest in. SVV invests in software companies that use foundational core AI technologies to solve real-world industry problems.
Sure Valley Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
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Barry Downes
Managing Partner
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Brian Kinane
Co-Founder & Partner
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Brian K.
Co-Founder & Partner
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Brian Kinane
Partner
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Cian Hughes
Partner and Head of Platform
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FAQ
What does Barry Downes invest in?
Barry Downes invests primarily in Artificial Intelligence, Software and Information Technology startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 20 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Barry Downes?
Public channels for Barry Downes include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Barry Downes last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Barry Downes closed in Sep 2026. Shizune tracks 20 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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