Irish tech SMEs raise €237m in first quarter of 2016

Irish high tech SMEs raised €237 million in the first quarter of 2016 according to a Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) VenturePulse survey published in association with law firm William Fry.

The figure stands at nearly double the amount over the same period last year.

Brian Caulfield, IVCA chairman, said: “About half the funds came through international syndicates which shows an encouraging and continuing strong global appetite for the Irish tech sector.

“The first quarter results continue the positive performance of last year overall when funding of Irish SMEs rose by 30% to €522m.”

He pointed out that one company raised €40m through an IPO in Australia, reflecting the increasing globalisation of Irish businesses.

Regina Breheny, IVCA director general, added: “The increase in this quarter to €237m from €119.8m last year is a positive result considering that the industry in Ireland is in fundraising mode.”

She said that life sciences dominated the first quarter, with 42 per cent of funds raised by 15 companies in this sector. Two companies raised over 25 per cent of total funds. Growth/expansion funding represented 90 per cent of total funds raised.

Ms Breheny said: “The importance of close international relationships is once again emphasised by continued strong support from global players, who invested €116m or 49 per cent of total funds raised in the first quarter.”

She added that first round seed funding at €24.7 million had more than doubled from €11.9 milion in the same period last year.

“Early stage companies have benefited from support from Irish VCs and private investors such as angels. While seed funds supported by Enterprise Ireland are being renewed, it will take some months yet to get these up and running.”

She said that since the onset of the credit crunch in 2008, in excess of 1,250 Irish SMEs raised venture capital of €2.8bn. 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 €1.25bn of capital into Ireland and geared up the State’s investment through the Seed & Venture Capital programme by almost 16 times.