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The State agency has emerged top in a PitchBook ranking of European domestic VCs – with 42pc more deals than the second-placed investor.
Enterprise Ireland is the most active domestic venture capital investor in Europe, according to a report by investment platform PitchBook.
PitchBook data suggests that Enterprise Ireland completed 988 deals between 2018 and the first half of this year – a whopping 42pc more than French sovereign wealth fund Bpifrance, which ranked second on PitchBook’s list.
State agency Enterprise Ireland is responsible for the growth of Irish start-ups and businesses in global markets. It was named the world’s most active venture capital investor by deal count by PitchBook last year after making more than 350 investments in 2020.
“Enterprise Ireland is committed to ensuring that Irish companies, especially those in the start-up sector, have access to capital to enable them scale and grow in competitive global markets,” said Leo McAdams, who heads investment services at the agency.
“The latest PitchBook report demonstrates our activity in this important area, and we are delighted to be ranked first in Europe by deal count.”
McAdams added that by supporting innovative Irish companies, Enterprise Ireland is able to create jobs throughout the country and “play a huge role in local economies and communities”.
Behind Enterprise Ireland and Bpifrance, PitchBook’s top European investors for domestic deals were Paris-based Kima Ventures, the UK’s SFC Capital, and German early-stage VC investor High-Tech Gründerfonds.
The PitchBook platform is used by nearly 100,000 venture capital and private equity firms, angel investors and investment professionals for data, research and technology profiles of global start-ups.
European investors have been particularly active in domestic deals in the first half of this year, with €56.3m invested across 5,526 deals, according to PitchBook data.
Breaking records
Earlier this year, Enterprise Ireland announced its highest jobs gain in a single year and revealed that its client companies employed almost as many people as multinationals in Ireland. Having supported 125 new start-ups in 2021, the agency said it is targeting support for 450 early-stage companies over the next three years.
Months later, it added that 2021 was a record year for exports by client companies. Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy told SiliconRepublic.com at the time that 2021 provided a great base to build upon for future growth in Irish products and services making their way beyond the island.
“To come in with record job growth and record export growth is just good validation that businesses have come through Covid-19 as well as Brexit and the other factors that are coming through very strong on the other side,” he said.
“What I’m hearing on the ground is that people are dealing with the challenges as best they can. And quite well, in most cases – they’re optimising their businesses to make sure they continue to trade.”
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