Venture capital funding into Irish technology SMEs treaded water in the third quarter of this year, finishing at €192.5m or just 1% ahead of the same period last year.
However, despite the minimal growth Ireland actually bucked the trend of the rest of the globe where VC funding in the third quarter fell by 15% year over year.
The latest figures from the Irish Venture Capital Association Venture Pulse survey, show VC funding in Ireland for the nine months to end of September fell by 18% to €945.3m from €1.1bn in 2023.
Globally VC funding fell by 3.7% over the same period while international VC funding into Ireland fell by almost €200m or 24% for the year to end of September.
International funding for the third quarter of €85m amounted to 44% of the total for the period.
Gerry Maguire, chairperson, Irish Venture Capital Association, said: “A positive feature of the third quarter is that the number of deals rose …