Investors bet about €218 million on Irish companies in the three months to the end of June, according to a new report.
Venture capitalists, who back new and developing businesses in the hope of high returns, stepped up their activity in the Republic in the second quarter of this year, according to accountants KPMG.
Irish companies raised $237.5 million (€217.4 million) from such investors in the three-month period, almost 40 per cent more than the $172.5 million that businesses here lured from backers during the same quarter in 2023.
KPMG’s Venture Pulse, the latest edition of which is out on Monday, notes that venture capitalists showed increasing willingness to make bigger bets during the period, with the total invested covering 24 deals in the second quarter, against 33 in the comparable period last year.
The top four deals included the $110 million raised by biotech Synox Therapeutics, which develops drugs to treat cell tumours.
Marine data collector Xocean followed with $32.5 million, digital health specialist Spectrum.life raised $18.3 million and Nory, a KPMG global tech innovator finalist, lured $16.1 million for its products, focused on using AI to aid restaurants operate more efficiently.
Financial technology companies raised almost $141 million across 10 deals in the first half of the year, from $59.2 million over nine transactions during the same period in 2023, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech H1.
This bucked a global trend that saw the value of such deals plunge in the first to $52 billion from $62.3 billion in the opening six months of 2023.
However, Keensight Capital’s $109 million plunge for Irish-based Softco skewed the figures here, KPMG notes.
Anna Scally, EMA head of technology, media and telecommunications at KPMG, noted that European and US elections, high interest rates and “sluggish” stock market launches would keep investors cautious.
“It’s particularly encouraging to see investment and interest in Irish innovative solutions in biotech, ocean data tech, healthtech and AI,” she added.
KPMG expects venture capital activity to remain steady in Ireland and globally, with AI likely to draw a large share of the available cash.
“This surge highlights the growing confidence in Irish start-ups and Ireland’s innovative potential,” said Ms Scally.
AI will remain a “very hot area”, along with energy and clean technology, KPMG believes.
From January 17th next year, European Union financial institutions will be require to comply with the Digital Operational Resilience Act.
Given the complexities associated with this, companies developing systems to aid customers with this are likely to attract investors’ interest, the report says.
Ian Nelson, KPMG’s head of financial services, said Irish early-stage fintech companies were thriving.
“We expect to see this continue in the remainder of 2024,” he added.
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