The investment is co-managed by the Dublin Business Innovation Centre (DBIC) with private investors from the Halo Business Angel Partnership also participating.

The AIB Seed Capital Fund invests in firms led by management team with a high level of expertise and commitment and which have technology promising the potential for strong market growth and profitability.

Datakraft specialises in niche software vertical applications and bespoke application development. It was started in 2004 by Jacques Lefebvre and Carol McKeon.

The bespoke solution development for R&D management, CRM, HR, project management, is based on its no-coding platform, which is claimed to be 20 times faster than traditional development methods.

DataKraft is a Microsoft certified partner, and its platform has been certified for Vista.

Customers include the Big Red Book, Dalkia, Bryan S Ryan and The Intertrade Ireland Acumen programme. It has customer in Ireland, the UK and Australia.

DataKraft CEO Jacques Lefebvre said: "Our DataKraft R&D Management Solution includes recipe development and costing, nutritional calculation, Gantt chart project management, ingredient and allergen management, supplier and sample tracking, and trial and tasting management."

"The investment will be used to further develop this solution as well as the underlying platform, and to protect a pending patent in the EU and USA, as well as Ireland."

Lefebvre said the NPD solution was developed as DataKraft consulted with over 50 food industry firms. "The design was determined by the industry, and not just by ourselves in isolation, which is where many software vendors get it wrong." He added: "Over 75% of the 50 firms we met said they would have a use for our solution."