 |
| Regina Breheny |
Irish technology companies raised 62.6m in venture capital over the first half of 2007, according to the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) Techpulse survey.
The funding compares with the 83.7m raised in the same period in 2006.
Regina Breheny, Director General, IVCA, said the number of Irish companies raising funds has increased from 19 in the first-half of 2006 to 31 this year. Amounts raised vary between 200,000 and 8m.
"Despite the overall reduction in deal value, the year to date has seen a highly active VC market with a wide variety of tech sectors being supported," she said.
The biggest growth has been in the drug delivery and medical devices market where nine firms raised 17.4m, compared with zero raised last year.
In the telecoms sector five companies raised 16.4m compared with six telcos raising 21.1m in 2006. Apart from these, 17 other technology firms, including nano technology firms, raised 28.8m.
Funds were supplied by 12 Irish VC companies and 13 international firms. This compares with nine Irish and 13 international in 2006.
In 2006, 192 million was invested in venture capital compared with 8 billion in overseas commercial property.
