The majority of large rounds were concentrated in Q1, which alone accounted for €616m in funds, a record high for any quarter over the last 10 years.

TechIreland has released its Irish Start-up Funding Review for 2026, a report covering start-up fundraising activity in 2025. 319 Irish start-ups raised a total of €992m, up €14m from 2024. An additional 12 companies raised funding when compared to the 2024 figures. 

Early-stage funding activity was found to be notably strong, with a record 211 companies raising up to €1m; however, data also revealed that there are ongoing challenges in scaling into Series A funding and beyond, as momentum lagged in that range. 

The overall figures were somewhat uneven, as the majority of large funding rounds were concentrated in the first quarter of the year, with 69 companies accounting for €616m in funding, a record high for any quarter over the last decade. However, during the following three quarters, fundraising activity sharply cooled, with just €376m raised over the remainder of the year by 250 start-ups. 

Life sciences was found to be the strongest-funded sector in Ireland during 2025, accounting for more than half of total funding, with major rounds announced by companies such as LetsGetChecked, ProVerum, Deciphex and Perfuze. The enterprise software and fintech sectors were the second and third strongest sectors.

The report noted that many of 2025’s largest rounds reflected Ireland’s growing reputation in deep tech, AI, medtech and robotics. 

There was a growing momentum in AI-enabled solutions, with 99 Enterprise Ireland-supported start-ups in 2025 incorporating AI as a central part of their product or service. Notably, there was a sharp decline in funding for start-ups in energy and clean-tech, which fell from €328m in 2024 to €41m in 2025.

Break it down

When looking closer at the geographical divisions in funding, Dublin-based operations were found to have raised more than €667m across 192 companies, representing around 60pc of funded companies and 67pc of total investment value in 2025. Outside of Dublin, start-up activity remained widespread, with Galway, Louth, Cork, Wicklow and Antrim some of the strongest performing regional hubs. Companies outside Dublin raised a little more than €210m.

Northern Irish companies raised more than €114m, with funding concentrated in Antrim. This is the third consecutive year that start-up funding in Northern Ireland has shown strong growth, up from €71m in 2025 and €40m in 2024. 

For female founders, funding figures remained static, standing at around 15pc, which is comparable to previous figures. 92 companies established by women raised €146m in 2025. 

Commenting on the report, the chair of TechIreland, Brian Caulfield, said, “2025 was very much a curate’s egg. It was good in parts – mainly in Q1, when 69 Irish companies raised a total of €616m. That was the best quarter for fundraising in Ireland for 10 years. 

“Unfortunately, the rest of the year saw a return to weakness, with just €376m raised by 250 companies across the rest of the year. Once again, just four outliers represented almost half of all funding (46pc). More widely, the pattern of Irish companies being underfunded relative to international competitors remains a worry.”

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