Irish venture capital funding is second highest quarter on record
Dublin; Sunday 1st September (14:00 hrs), 2024: Venture capital funding of €494m into Irish SMEs in the second quarter was the second highest on record, up 7% on the same period last year, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey published today in association with William Fry.
But with the exception of seed funding, the data reports a gap in deals under €10m. Overall funding for the half year fell by almost a quarter (22%) to €752.7m.
Gerry Maguire, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association, said that one needed to drill down into the figures to get the true state of affairs for Irish SMEs looking to expand and raise finance.
“Deals in the €5-10m range fell by 44% to €27m in the second quarter, compared to the same time last year. This worrying trend continued right across all deal sizes from €1-€5m. It suggests that companies are doing well raising early stage seed funding but are struggling to kick on in the next vital growth phase.”
Mr. Maguire said that while the number and value of deals in the €10m plus range had performed well in the second quarter, over 90% of this funding came from international investors. “This is a testament to the quality and ambition of Irish companies, but points to the importance of having Irish funds of scale that can co-invest or lead these rounds. This really highlights the need to increase the availability of growth finance from local sources.”
Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general of the IVCA, said that thanks to long standing Government policies supporting early stage funding, the recovery in seed funding had continued from the first quarter of this year. Seed funding, or first rounds raised by SMEs, in quarter two rose by 18% to €53.2m, compared to the same period last year. Seed funding for the half year rose by 79% to €93.6m.
“While seed funding remains robust, the IVCA is looking forward to the report of the implementation committee set up by Peter Burke TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, on measures to assist these exciting, high potential start-ups take their next steps through greater access to scaling finance.”
The life sciences sector with €297m (39%) led the way in funding for the half year followed by envirotech (13%); regtech (12%); fintech and software (both 9%).
The top five deals in quarter two worth over €30m were regulatory compliance company, Corlytics (undisclosed amount); life sciences firm, SynOx Therapeutics (€70.3m); fintech company, AccountsIQ (€60m); cybersecurity specialist, Tines (€50m) and marine technology firm, XOCEAN (€30m).
Ends
Press queries to:
Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, IVCA, Email: sjlarkin@ivca.ie; Mob: 087 320 9209 or
Ronnie Simpson, Simpson Consulting, Email: ronnie@simpsonconsulting.ie; Mob: 086 855 9410
Note to editors – how the VenturePulse survey is compiled
The Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey is recognised by the VC industry and by government and international bodies, including the OECD, as the definitive and most up to date source of fundraising activity in Ireland. It is the only provider of Ireland VC funding statistics which publishes its source data or actual deals.
The data covers equity funds raised by Irish SMEs and other SMEs headquartered on the island of Ireland from a wide variety of investors.
This research is the result of the latest detailed information supplied internally by members of the Irish Venture Capital Association and from published information where IVCA members were not involved. A list of the funding rounds that comprise the source data for the total will be available on the IVCA website.
About the Irish Venture Capital Association (www.ivca.ie)
The Irish Venture Capital Association is the representative organisation for venture capital and private equity firms on the island of Ireland.
An independent DCU report released in January 2020 found that VC backed Irish companies create more jobs, exports and R&D investment than other SMEs.
Venture capital supports the state’s investment through its agencies’ Enterprise Ireland and Irish Strategic Investment Fund and gears up funding through the Seed & Venture Capital Programme by almost 16 times.