Small firms lose out in venture capital splurge
Venture capital investment into Irish firms rose significantly during the first three months of the year to €532.8m but smaller firms have lost out as deal volume and value in their category fall, a new report has found.
According to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey, published in association with William Fry, venture capital investment transactions increased by over 100% compared to the same period last year.
In total, there were 43 venture capital investments completed between January and March but these were heavily weighted towards higher value transactions. Deals valued at €30m or higher accounted for €296.8m of the total venture capital spend during the first quarter.
Funding in the €10m and €30m range rose by 184% to €132m, funding between €5m and €10m grew 138% to €43.8m while deals between €3m and €5m increased 346% to €35m.
However, deals valued between €1m and €3m fell by 5% to €21.6m and deals under €1m fell by 42% to €3.6m with the number of deals in this category also dropping from 21 in early 2024 to six this year.
Seed funding, or first rounds raised by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), fell to €39.3m from €40.4m the previous year.
Gerry Maguire, chairperson of the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVAC) noted that over 80% of the total in this quarter was 'due to deals worth over €10m' adding that the picture for start-ups raising under €3m was less rosy and this may reflect an imbalance in the market.
The report showed the highest value deals during the first quarter included home lab test kits and healthcare solutions company Let's get Checked which raised €150m, Cybersecurity firm Tines which raised €115m followed by AI company Protex AI which raised €31.8m.
Rounding out the top five were drone delivery firm Manna at €27m and medical technology manufacturer Perfuze at €22m.
The first quarter of the year concluded before US president Donald Trump announced a raft of tariffs on all imports coming into the US so the full impact of the change was not captured in this report.
Mr 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 of the 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 double-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,' she said.
According to the report, 45% of all the venture capital investment during this period went into the life sciences sector while 22% went to cybersecurity, and 9% went to software. Fintech investment and AI investment accounted for 8% and 7% respectively.
Enterprise Ireland, the State agency responsible for growing indigenous Irish businesses, invested in five companies during the first quarter, according to the report.
Of these, two were AI firms, Assidious Corp and Euryka AI, one is an virtual reality firm, VRAI, one was a medical technology firm Proverum, and the last was a whiskey cask exchange company LYQD.
The VenturePulse survey 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 based on the latest detailed information supplied internally by members of the IVCA and from published information where IVCA members were not involved.
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