Factors such as rebounding interest in new technologies, as well as the government announcing new schemes supporting the venture capital (VC) industry all contributed to higher VC numbers.
Venture capital investment in Ireland increased in the last quarter of the year, coming up to 29 deals, worth about $255.16m (€247.22m), according to the latest KPMG Venture Pulse report. This was in contrast with 26 deals worth approximately $174.76m (€169.38m) for the same period in 2023, which was a rise of 46%.
However, total Irish venture capital investment last year fell by 18% to $627.75m (€608.44m) across 98 deals. This was in comparison to 101 deals worth about $764.06m (€740.49) in the previous year.
The decrease was mainly because of continuing challenges in the funding environment worldwide, which have affected startup ecosystems globally.
In the last quarter of 2024, many deals raised more than $40m (€38.78m) each. This included Nuritas, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered peptide discovery company based in Dublin, whose Series C funding round raised $42m (€40.71m).
Another Dublin-based company, Nuitée, which is a travel tech infrastructure company, secured $48m (€46.52m) in its Series A funding round.
Ireland’s venture capital investors were interested in a range of sectors in the fourth quarter of 2024, such as biotech, health and fintech, with interest in AI also continuing to remain strong. Other factors, such as the government announcing a new Seed and Venture Capital Scheme also helped boost VC numbers.
Anna Scally, international tax partner at KPMG Ireland, said on the company’s website: “A strong end to 2024 and a positive start to 2025 underscore the resilience of Ireland’s innovation ecosystem amidst global funding pressures and show confidence is returning to the market.
“Health, biotech and fintech are still seeing interest. AI is really starting to attract interest – while the AI deal sizes are quite small here, it’s an area likely to grow significantly over the next year. With the first set of requirements in the EU AI Act going into effect on 2 February 2025, companies will have to factor the provisions of this Act into how they develop AI products and services to be rolled out in the European market.”
Global venture capital market stays resilient in 2024
Venture capital investment worldwide touched 35,684 deals in 2024, worth approximately $368.3bn (€356.74bn). Although the number of deals conducted in 2023 was higher, at 43,320, the combined value of these deals was lower at $349.4bn (€338.54bn).
This was despite ongoing challenges such as geopolitical tensions and conflicts, as well as election uncertainty across a number of major economies, including the US, Germany, UK, EU and India.
The venture capital sector was mainly boosted by surging activity in the Americas, where VC investment touched $221.7bn (€214.85bn) in 2024. On the other hand, Europe’s venture capital activity was lagging in 2024, coming in at $62.4bn (€60.47bn), whereas VC investment in the Asia-Pacific region plunged to a nine-year low of $78.8bn (€76.36bn) last year.
