Venture capital investment down 80% in Q1 [Video]

Venture capital investment in Ireland decline 80% year-on-year in the first quarter, the latest Venture Pulse report from KPMG shows.

There were 17 deals worth a combined $34.2m in the first three months of 2024, down $138.6m from the 24 deals worth $172.8m in Q1 2023.

Interest in Ireland’s technology sector has remained high however, as flagged by SoftBank’s acquisition of a majority stake in Cubic Telecom for €473m, which values the Dublin-based automotive software company at €900m.

Global VC investment globally fell to its lowest level for nearly five years in Q1, declining from $83.8bn across 9,458 deals in Q4 to $75.9bn across 7,520 deals in Q1.

KPMG blamed geopolitical tensions, an extended drought in exits among VC-backed companies, and a continued pullback in investment at later stage deals for the $8bn drop.

However, Europe was the only region to defy the wider trend, with the value of VC deals increasing …