Venture capital investment up 25.7%

Venture capital activity for the first half of 2005 in Ireland has increased by 25.7% in comparison with the same period last year.

The increase came despite a decrease of 11.5% in the total amount invested across Europe, from €1,872.16m in the first half of 2004 to €1,657.21m in the first half of 2005.

The results of the European Venture Capital Report released by Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young show that a total of €70.88m has been invested by venture capitalists in Ireland so far this year, up from the €56.41m invested in the same period last year.

Ireland has continued to buck the European trend of decline in venture capital investment, helped by a particularly strong performance in Q1 2005, when figures invested here reached €43.51m, a level not recorded since 2001. Deals recorded in Q2 2005 are valued at €27.37m.