The €300m venture capital investment secured by Cork solar energy company Amarenco pushed the Irish VC market for SMEs to a record €502m in the first quarter.
Venture capital funding to Irish SMEs in Q1 rose by a third (32%) or €122m year-on-year, from €380m to €502m, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA)'s VenturePulse survey, published in association with William Fry.
The uplift compares to a 53% drop in VC funding globally during the first three months of the year.
Leo Hamill, chairperson of IVCA, said that, excluding deals worth more than €30m in the first quarters of 2022 and 2023, the value of Irish VC market rose 70% to over €200m despite the global headwinds facing the sector.
The value of the €3-5m category rose 966% year-on-year, with €5-10m (+62%), €10-30m (+95%) and €30m+ (+15%) all experiencing large increases, but Hamill cautioned that start-ups looking for seed and early stage funding experienced some choppy waters.
The value of deals in the €1-3m range fell two-thirds to €10m, while deals below €1m fell 28% to €6.5m. Seed capital also dropped 67% to €7.5m.
Investment by international venture capital companies into Ireland represented 40% of the total, and excluding larger rounds above €30m, international funding was up 210% on the same period last year.
“In the context of a global slowdown in VC investment, the high level of international funding secured by Irish companies clearly demonstrates a strong appetite for innovative indigenous enterprises which reflects their high quality and realistic valuations," said Sarah-Jane Larkin, director general of IVCA.
She added that overall a "healthy" 21 indigenous companies raised between €5m and €30m in Q1.
Apart from Amarenco, top deals in this period were Fire1 (€27.3m) and Supernode (€16m). Assure Hedge, Astatine and Neuromod each raised €15m.
The environmental industries (66%) sector led the way in funding this quarter followed by life sciences (11%), fintech (5%) and cybersecurity (2%).
The €300m investment round at Amarenco saw Arjun Infrastructure Parters take a minority stake in the French-Irish firm, and provide financing for solar, energy storage and agrisolar projects.
(Pic: Getty Images)
