Life sciences was the most successful sector to date this year, raising €361.6m
Trade
Caroline Gaynor, Irish Venture Capital Association
Venture capital funding into Irish technology SMEs rose by 8% to €207.9 million in the third quarter 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association Venture Pulse survey.
Funding for the nine months to end September fell by 10% to €853.4 million from €945.3 million the previous year. The total number of deals in the same period fell from 153 to 135.
“Third quarter data provided some relief following a dismal second quarter this year when funding fell to €112.6 million, its lowest in 10 years,” said Caroline Gaynor, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association (pictured). “Hopefully we are starting to see some confidence and stability return to the market, but it remains a challenging time for early stage companies.”
Gaynor added that following the blow to investor confidence caused by the US tariffs, international investors had started to return to the market. International VC investment into Irish SMEs rose to €146.7 million in the current quarter compared to €69.5 million in the second quarter of this year.
She said that bright spots in the overall data were deals in the €1 million-€5 million range which accounted for 30 out of the 39 transactions in this quarter. Transactions in the €1 million-€3 million category rose by 35% to €35.6 million compared to the same time last year. Deals in the €3 million-€5 million range increased by 18% to €34.7 million.
However, funding in the €10 million-€30 million category fell by two thirds to €26 million while €5 million-€10 million deals dropped by 74% to €13.5 million, compared to the same quarter last year.
There was better news in the €30 million+ category where medtech company, ProVerum raised €62 million, and AI machine learning firm, Nory raised €34 million.
Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general, IVCA, said that while there was some healthy activity, gaps remained in the third quarter, particularly in seed funding and transactions under €1 million, both of which disappointed. Seed or first rounds fell by 30% to €23.4 million from €33.5 million, compared to the same quarter last year. Seed funding for the first nine months was down 31% to €88.3 million from €127.2 million last year.
Despite this shortfall, Larkin said: “The process for deploying the Government’s €250 million Enterprise Ireland Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2025-29 is well under way. We are optimistic that the environment for very early stage Irish companies seeking first round funding will pick up in the first half of next year.”
Life sciences was the most successful sector to date this year, raising funds of €361.6 million (42% of the total in the first nine months). This was followed by cyber security at €136.3 million (16%); AI and machine learning €97 million (11%); fintech €92.2 million (11%); and software €66.2 million (8%).
TechCentral Reporters