Continuing on our path of unveiling the most active and heard-of venture funds across Europe, the time has come to explore the UK’s closest neighbor - Ireland.
So to start off, Ireland has the smallest corporate tax in the EU, is home to 2nd most educated population on the continent, and is the only English-speaking state in the eurozone, all of which turns it into an absolutely wonderful location for big tech hubs and research centers.
Considering all of the aforementioned, it is a no-brainer why this island nation could turn into one of the best destinations for innovative business sectors such as fintech or health tech and a place with an ever-growing startup ecosystem.
So, without further ado, let’s discover the Top 15 VC funds from Ireland investing in early-stage startups!
BGF
Geography: UK and Ireland
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: £1m – £15m
Company stage: multistage
The first on our list, BGF, is a really, really large (£2.5Bn-big!) investment company spanning its presence over 16 locations all over the British-Irish isles. In its business activities, the BGF sets out to make non-controlling minority bets into small and medium-sized businesses on flexible terms, catered to the prospective founders they’re pairing with. The firm usually aims to be around for the long haul and brings powerful intros, operational insight, as well as personal support.
Arch Venture Partners
Geography: global
Preferred industries: life science/healthcare, biotech
Investment ticket: undisclosed
Company stage: early-stage
The up-and-coming on the list, Arch Venture Partners, is a leading life science and healthcare VC, funding cutting-edge biotech innovation all over the globe. In evaluating their incoming proposals, the firm has an ear of leading research and corporate groups and can go as far as calling up a Nobel laureate to check out the prospective startups’ technology! When it comes to the investment size, the fund can go either big or small, depending on the transaction’s specifics - their investment tickets can range from $50k to $100M!
Act Venture Capital
Geography: Ireland
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: €100k – €10M
Company stage: seed
A forthcoming VC, Act Venture Capital is a Dublin-based fund, targeting Irish seed-stage startups. The firm’s investment team usually puts anywhere from €100k to €10M into each company and has a good capacity to add even more with the help of their LPs. Some of the firm’s past investments include a B2B Buy-now-pay-later startup Playter, product management platform Interplay, and e-commerce analytics platform Conjura.
Frontline Ventures
Geography: US and Europe
Preferred industries: B2B SaaS
Investment ticket: $250k to $2.5M
Company stage: growth stage across the US, pre-product/seed, and seed for Europe
The next on the list, Frontline Ventures, is a VC solely and exclusively dedicated to B2B SaaS startups, located on both sides of the Atlantic. At its core, the firm strongly focuses on helping its portfolio companies expand to either the US or Europe. To make that happen, they usually use a strong network of advisors, that ensure startups’ growth from the beginning. Some of the firm’s notable investments include the satellite imagery provider bird.i, drone mapping software DroneDeploy, and AI cybersecurity software CalypsoAI.
Fountain Healthcare Partners
Geography: Europe and the US
Preferred industries: life science, with a focus on specialty pharma, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics
Investment ticket: €10M to €15M
Company stage: seed to IPO
The very next on the selection, Fountain Healthcare Partners is a life science VC active across Europe and the US. In its investment activities, the firm makes only a handful of highly selective bids in order to build a genuine and sustainable partnership with its portfolio companies. Some of their investments include a therapeutic for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease Amarin, post-operative pain treatment solutions provider Innocoll and immunotherapy startup Calypso biotech.
Atlantic Bridge
Geography: Ireland, Europe, and the US
Preferred industries: deep tech
Investment ticket: undisclosed
Company stage: multistage
Atlantic Bridge is a transnational deep tech VC, investing in European and American startups. Just after the investment, the firm usually focuses on helping European startups accelerate and kickstart their growth journey with the help of sales, marketing, and network effects of the fund, helping cement startups’ presence in unknown territory. In its three-decade-long history, the Atlantic Bridge has backed companies like AI cybersecurity unicorn Vectra, AI applications platform SambaNova, and a gallium nitride semiconductor producer Navitas.
Two Culture Capital
Geography: global
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: undisclosed
Company stage: early-stage to IPO
Two Culture Capital is a global VC arm of an investment holding Granite Oak investing in companies at the intersection of humanities and sciences. While making investments, the firm is pretty open to reviewing proposals coming from any stage or industry. The notable investments Two Culture has made in the past count names like a commercial insurance startup coverwallet, short video sharing platform Lomotif and a people enablement platform impraise.
Kernel Capital
Geography: Ireland and North Ireland
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: €500k – €2M
Company stage: early-stage
Kernel Capital is a VC of the country’s oldest bank - Bank of Ireland, investing in promising Irish tech companies. The firm aims to be the first institutional investor and oftentimes tends to lead or co-invest with other prominent institutional players and high-net-worth individuals. Some of the companies Kernel has invested in, include molecular detection technology startup Altratech, communications and radar solutions company Arralis, and analytics platform for the finance industry Corlytics.
Tapestry Venture Capital
Geography: Europe and the US
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: undisclosed
Company stage: seed
Tapestry VC is a fund that came out from the organizers of one of Europe’s largest startup conferences - Web Summit, that has been first organized in 2009. The fund targets startups across seed stages and from many industries, with the aim to take a minority stake in the businesses they’re investing in. Some of Tapestry’s past investments include companies like a consumer electronics startup Nothing, video-based unicorn Hopin, and a business banking platform Relay.
Sure Valley Ventures
Geography: UK/Ireland
Preferred industries: metaverse/web3, AI/ML and cybersecurity/infosec
Investment ticket: £750k to £1.5M
Company stage: early-stage
The next VC on the list, Sure Valley Ventures is an entrepreneur-led fund interested in software-focused startups across the British-Irish Isles. The firm is pretty young but it can already boast an impressive number of 93% of its investee companies raising follow-on series A/B rounds within 24 months from the seed investment (meanwhile 48% of other startups fail to raise any funding after that point). To make that happen, Sure Valley provides a tailor-made program to help train, connect - and in general - accelerate your business capabilities.
Delta Partners
Geography: UK, Ireland
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: €100k to €3M
Company stage: early-stage
Delta Partners is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage tech companies. Reaching its close with Bank of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, Delta Partners has a €70 million fund for early and seed stage technology companies. The fund plans to invest in 30 startups over three to four years. It has invested in over 120 startups, including a deposit management tool, Deposify, a retail/eCommerce marketing platform StitcherAds, and a medical equipment manufacturer Sirius XT.
Seroba Life Science
Geography: Western Europe and the US
Preferred industries: biotech, medtech, life sciences
Investment ticket: €3M to €5M
Company stage: series A-B
Seroba Life Science is a VC fund focusing on breakthrough healthcare technologies worldwide. Their core values are enhancing human health, advancing diversity and inclusion, and financing healthcare innovation. Medical device industries are among the most challenging, so Seroba Life Science assists high-potential startups with their growth, market expansion, and exits. Among the startups they invested in you can note a clot removal technology for stroke patients Perfuze, drug discovery company Storm Therapeutics, and a radiopharmaceutical company Fusion.
Elkstone Capital Partners
Geography: Ireland
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: from €1M to €2M
Company stage: early to late-stage
Regulated by the Irish Central Bank, Elkstone Capital Partners is a Multi-Family Office that provides investment services in real estate, venture, and wealth management. Over the coming years, the firm plans to invest in up to 35 companies - about 55% in seed and pre-A series. You can recognize some of the funds’ investments in unicorns like a virtual care company LetsGetChecked, continuous chronic disease treatment platform Thirty Madison, and an ordering system for restaurants Flipdish.
Tribal.vc
Geography: Ireland
Preferred industries: sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: up to €2M
Company stage: seed or series A
Created by three angel entrepreneurs, Tribal.vc is investing across industries in early-stage companies. The firm has an evergreen structure allowing it to always have some dry powder for the next opportunity. For now, Tribal.vc has invested in more than 20 early-stage companies, like customer communications platform Intercom, a beauty salon management software Phorest, and a corporate legal operations software, and Brightflag.
Venture Wave Capital
Geography: Ireland
Preferred industries: education, healthcare, food and agriculture, energy and the environment
Investment ticket: €1M to €25M
Company stage: multi-stage
The VentureWave Capital team focuses on investing in businesses with high potential for impact. They support companies with a positive social impact that meets at least one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. VentureWave Capital is a member of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) and the first Irish signatory of the IFC Principles for Impact Investing. Additionally, they aim to promote Ireland as a global center for innovation and Impact Investing. So, for today, VentureWave Capital invested in an ocean data collection startup Xocean, digital health startup Webdoctor, and a DIY food package delivery DropChef.
Related Posts:
TOP VC Funds In the United Kingdom To Finance Your Startup (Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
Top 100 VC Funds From CEE (Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
TOP VC Funds In Croatia & Slovenia To Finance Your Startup (Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
