Q4 'early stage' deals rise in 2004, says report

Four quarter results for the VentureOne/Ernst & Young Quarterly European Venture Capital Report 2004 show the number of "early stage" deals for Ireland up on 2003 – with 15 of 42 deals in 2004 attributed to seed and first round fundings compared to 12 of 45 the previous year.

Significantly, the amount raised by these early stage deals showed a sizeable increase from €22.71m in 2003, 19% of the total amount raised, to €40.10m in 2004, accounting for 37% of the total figure.