Irish companies raise a combined $518.9m in VC funding

Irish companies raised $518.9 million (€472 million) in venture capital (VC) funding last year across 185 deals, new figures show.

This was down on the $655 million raised in 2018, in what was the second highest year on record for VC investment in the State.

During the fourth quarter of 2019, $58.28 million was raised across 14 deals – a sharp decline versus the $245.6 million secured more than 90 transactions for the same three-month period a year earlier.

The biggest year for VC investment in the Republic was 2016 when a record $708 million was invested in Irish companies.

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According to the latest figures compiled on behalf of KPMG by Pitchbook, the biggest deal of the year locally was the $15.10 million raised by cybersecurity automation start-up Tines in a Series A round. Backers included Accel, Index Ventures and Blossom Capital.

Galway headquartered data intelligence company Siren secured the second biggest deal, raising $10 million in a funding round led by Atlantic Bridge and with participation from DVI Equity Partners, Frontline Ventures and Enterprise Ireland.

Other notable big deals last year included Louth-based ocean data company Xocean, which raised $9.3 million and Dublin based voice assistance technology company Sweepr, a company that secured raised $9 million from backers including Draper Esprit.

Europe attracted a record high of $37.5 billion in VC investment, last year the latest figures show. This compares to $28.2 billion secured in 2018. Last year was also the second highest year of global investment at $257 billion after 2018’s $300 billion record high.

Additional figures from KPMG/Pitchbook show second half global fintech investment fell shy of 2018’s record with $135.7 billion invested across 2,693 deals.

In Ireland, the largest fintech transaction was for Fenergo, which raised $85 million. Other significant deals included student loan provider Future Fiannce and Immedis which raised $30 million and $28 million respectively.