'Sobering' startup funding this year shows investors are still spooked

The number of funding rounds for early-stage rounds continued to drop, and are down 80% on pre-pandemic levels.

Female founders remained resilient but still behind on male founded businesses, with €66m raised by 16 companies, the second-best performance in the last several years.

Startup funding fell dramatically to €460m during the first half of the year, a decrease of 40% compared with the same period a year earlier, a new report shows.

Industry representative body TechIreland said its latest Startup Funding Review is “sobering” and showed investors continued to be spooked by a volatile economic environment of interest rate hikes and stubborn inflation.