Ireland sets record €491m life sciences and health tech VC investment, PitchBook Report shows.
Ireland’s life sciences and health technology sector reached a decade-high in 2024, attracting €491.3 million across 89 venture capital deals, according to a new report based on PitchBook data.
Eighty of those transactions involved Enterprise Ireland-backed companies, underscoring the agency’s central role in the industry’s growth.
“This report confirms our ecosystem is not just resilient – it is thriving and maturing, ready for its next phase of global leadership”
The report highlights a significant shift towards later-stage funding, with late-stage and venture-growth deals accounting for 46 per cent of total activity – more than double the share recorded in 2014.
This trend continued into 2025, marked by FIRE1’s $120 million financing round, one of Europe’s largest health tech deals this year.
The full report, Ireland’s Lifesciences & Health Tech Landscape, is available for download here
Enterprise Ireland identified as world’s most active life sciences investor
Enterprise Ireland was identified as the world’s most active investor in life sciences and health tech in 2024, participating in 60 transactions.
“At a time when global life sciences and health tech funding has contracted dramatically, Ireland has produced a very strong performance and continues to attract large-scale growth capital from investors in Ireland and internationally,” explained Cepta Duffy, Head of Lifesciences and Health Tech at Enterprise Ireland.
“This report confirms our ecosystem is not just resilient – it is thriving and maturing, ready for its next phase of global leadership.”
Ireland is home to more than 700 life sciences and health tech firms, including over 400 indigenous companies and nine of the world’s top ten medtech multinationals. The sector employs more than 100,000 people and generates €16 billion in annual medtech exports, representing 14 per cent of the country’s total exports.
The report also notes that €298 million from the €500 million Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund has already been allocated to 68 health and wellbeing projects, further strengthening the innovation pipeline.
-
Bank of Ireland is welcoming new customers every day – funding investments, working capital and expansions across multiple sectors. To learn more, click here
-
For support in challenging times, click here
-
Listen to the ThinkBusiness Podcast for business insights and inspiration. All episodes are here. You can also listen to the Podcast on:
-
Spotify
-
SoundCloud
-
Apple
