There were fewer venture capital deals involving Irish companies in the third quarter, but the combined value of those deals increased, according to the latest VenturePulse survey from KPMG.
Venture capital firms secured 14 deals involving Irish companies during the third quarter, compared to 20 deals between April and June.
But the third quarter deals had a combined value of $150.1m - up 10% on the $136.4m raised in the previous three months.
It means venture capital activity in Ireland remains broadly stable quarter-on-quarter. But the figure is way down on the $668m raised in the first three months of the year.
According to Gavin Sheehan, partner in deal advisory at KPMG Ireland, the level of activity at the start of the year was unusually high.
"Deal volumes have reduced somewhat since the start of the year - particularly as quarter one 2025 was actually a stand-out quarter in recent years for Irish venture capital activity," he said. "Given the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment it's no surprise that deal-making has been taking longer in recent quarters".
"However it is good to see consistency in investment activity into quarter three, and as we've emerged from the summer - and particularly with the EU/US trade agreement - there is now greater certainty for investors in considering future opportunities," he added.
The biggest deal in Ireland in the quarter was relating to medtech firm ProVerum - which secured $80m.
That was followed by Nory AI, which raised $36m.
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Mr Sheehan said that these areas - and in particular AI - have been seeing the most interest from investors, both in Ireland and across the world.
"AI-enabled solutions are drawing significant investment from venture capital investors and, clearly, very strong valuations," he said.
"This is ultimately due to the transformative impact AI offerings are expected to have in propelling growth and driving efficiencies across industries - whether through automating workflows, providing greater and faster insights to enhance decision-making or personalising customer experiences," he said.
According to the KPMG report, VC investment in Europe stood at $17.4 billion in the third quarter - up more than $2 billion quarter-on-quarter. Like the trend in Ireland, that was despite the number of deals falling.
Meanwhile investment in the Americas rose by nearly $5 billion to $85.1 billion - driven largely by activity in the US.
That is despite growing concerns of a bubble in the US, and suggestions that investors may shift focus towards Europe to diversify their holdings.
"Globally total venture capital investment is up at $120 billion - that's driven by some very significant raises by Anthropic at $13 billion and Elon Musk's xAI raising $10 billion," said Mr Sheehan.
"Europe has seen a number of AI businesses raising in excess of $1 billion in this quarter... so there is significant investment flowing to Europe," he added.
