Venture capital funding into Irish startups rose by almost a third (32%) to a record €502 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared to €380 million in the same period last year, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey published today in association with William Fry. The record quarter was driven by a €300 million deal by Cork headquartered energy company Amarenco in March.
“This was a robust quarter for Ireland when compared to global VC funding which fell by 53% in the first three months of the year,” commented Leo Hamill, chairperson of the Irish Venture Capital Association.
“While Amarenco boosted the figures, if you exclude deals above €30 million in the first quarter of 2023 and 2022, this year still saw a rise of 70% to over €200 million for the first three months, which reflects well in view of global headwinds across the sector,” adds Hamill.
The chairperson of the Irish Venture Capital Association also said that funding above €3 million performed well with significant increases across all deal sizes. However, he cautioned that startups looking for Seed and early-stage funding experienced some choppy waters.
The value of deals in the €1-€3 million range fell by two-thirds to €10 million. Deals below €1 million fell by 28% to €6.5 million. Seed capital dropped 67% to €7.5 million.
Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general of IVCA, said that investment by international venture capital companies into Ireland represented 40% of the total in the first quarter. Excluding larger rounds above €30 million, international funding is up 210% on the same period last year.
“In the context of a global slowdown in VC investment, the high level of international funding secured by Irish companies clearly demonstrates a strong appetite for innovative indigenous enterprises which reflects their high quality and realistic valuations.”
She added that overall a healthy 21 indigenous companies raised between €5 million and €30 million in this quarter. Apart from Amarenco, the top deals in this period were Fire1 (€27.3 million) and Supernode (€16 million). Assure Hedge, Astatine and Neuromod each raised €15 million. The environmental industries (66%) sector led the way in funding this quarter followed by life sciences (11%).
