Irish buck venture capital trend

IRISH firms bucked the international trend, raising almost €220 million in venture capital (VC) investment in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 26% on last year.

This is up from €141.5m raised in the first nine months of 2007, according to figures from the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA). The number of companies that raised funds in this period was 86, compared to 64 in the same period last year and to 73 in 2007. Amounts raised ranged from €50,000 to €47m.

Irish technology companies raised €109m in the third quarter, bringing to €220m the amount raised to September this year.

IVCA chairman, John Tracey said: “Investment raised in the third quarter increased by 55% on last year with the number of companies involved increasing by 25%.

“This is against a background of a global credit crunch and significant falls in venture capital activity levels around the world.”

In the pharma/biotechnology sector, nine companies raised €76.7m, up 35% on last year. Also successful were firms in the drug delivery and medical device sector, with 15 companies raising €32.4m, up 15%.

In the telecoms sector, seven companies raised €7.7m, up 3% and in the environment technology sector, 10 companies raised €22.2m, up 10%.

Minister for Science, technology and innovation, Conor Lenihan said it is particularly significant that over 20%, or €48.3m, of funds raised this year were in the area of early stage or seed capital.

“This is helping to establish the building blocks of a smart economy and is positive for the future development of an indigenous knowledge economy,” he said. Thirty-nine early stage companies availed of the €48.3m in the period.

Irish tech firms attracted interest from international investors as well as local VC firms, according to the IVCA.

Irish VCs have invested €1.5 billion in Ireland in the last 10 years and have leveraged a further €1.5bn from international investors into the Irish market.