VC funding into Irish SMEs soars in first quarter to €533m, but picture ‘less rosy’ for young business raising less than €3m.
Venture capital funding into Irish SMEs soared to €532.8m in the first quarter of 2025, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey published today (25 May 2025) in association with William Fry.
This was a record for a first quarter and represents a year-to-year increase of over 100%.
“This is a doubled edged sword. While it reflects the high quality and potential of Irish tech firms and demand by overseas investors, it also reflects Ireland Inc’s vulnerability to international influences if the tide goes out”
However, the real picture is one of imbalance, whereby the majority of investment – a whopping 80% – came from overseas investors and early-stage businesses are all but being ignored.
“It should be noted that over 80% of the total in this quarter was due to deals worth over €10m,” said Gerry Maguire, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association said.
He said that the picture for start-ups raising under €3m was less rosy and this may reflect an imbalance in the market.
Tariff uncertainty to impact future investments
The first quarter excluded the impact of US “Liberation Day” tariffs on 2 April.
Maguire said that anecdotal evidence suggested that the uncertainty and caution caused by this, especially amongst international investors, is likely to show up in following quarters.
Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, IVCA said that funding by international venture capital into Irish companies rose to 82% of the total, compared to 71% in the same quarter last year.
“This is a doubled edged sword. While it reflects the high quality and potential of Irish tech firms and demand by overseas investors, it also reflects Ireland Inc’s vulnerability to international influences if the tide goes out.”
Deals in the €30m+ category grew by nearly 90% to €296.8m. Funding in the €10m-€30m range rose by 184% to €132m. Deals between €5m-€10m grew 138% to €43.8m. Funding in the €3-€5m increased 346% to €35m from €7.8m the previous quarter.
Deals in the €1m-€3m category fell by 5% to €21.6m. Deals under €1m fell by 42% to €3.6m from €6.2m the previous year. There was also a big fall in the number of deals in this category, down from 21 to six. Seed funding, or first rounds raised by SMEs, marked time, falling by 3% to €39.3m from €40.4m the previous year.
The total number of deals in the first quarter was 43, slightly ahead of the same quarter last year (41).
Top five deals in the first quarter were: life sciences company Let’s get Checked, which raised €150m; cybersecurity firm Tines raised €115m; AI company Protex AI (€31.8m), drone delivery firm, Manna (€27m); and medical technology manufacturer Perfuze (€22m).
Main image at top: Gerry Maguire, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association, and Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general
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