Irish technology SMEs raised a record €817 million for the nine months to end September 2017, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association VenturePulse survey published today in association with William Fry. This is an increase of 11% from 2016 when €734 million was raised in the same period. Fund raising in the third quarter reached €319 million.
“The third quarter was boosted by activity in Northern Ireland,” said Peter Sandys, chairman, IVCA (pictured). “Belfast fintech company Options accounted for 30% of total funds raised in this quarter. This is the largest fundraising deal in NI in over 10 years.
“Early stage support is growing significantly again with €59 million raised in the third quarter, reaching a high of €115.2 million for the nine months to end September.”
Regina Breheny, director general, IVCA, said: “The Irish venture capital community continues to be the main source of funding for Irish innovative SMEs both through direct investment and as the local lead investor for international syndicates.”
International syndicates invested €220 million in the third quarter bringing the total for the nine months to end September 2017 to €475 million. This compares to investment by international syndicates of €328 million over nine months in 2016 and with €225 million in 2015.
Breheny added: “Since the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, more than 1,450 Irish SMEs raised venture capital of €3.6 billion. These funds were raised almost exclusively by Irish VC fund managers who during this period supported the creation of up to 20,000 jobs; attracted over €1.6 billion of capital into Ireland and geared up the state’s investment through the Seed & Venture Capital Programme by almost 16 times.”
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