Women Founders in Ireland – Key Insights from Scale Ireland & TechIreland Report

TechIreland’s Female Founder Funding Review 2025, released in partnership with Fierce, highlights the funding landscape for women-led startups in Ireland. The report shows both progress and ongoing challenges for female founders:

• Funding for women-led startups increased by 46% in 2024, with €145M raised across 48 companies. However, the number of women-led companies that fundraised actually declined, reflecting a broader European trend.

• Deal sizes are growing, with the average funding round for female-founded startups rising from €1.2M (2023) to €2.9M (2024)—but still only half the average funding for all Irish tech startups (€6M).

• Early-stage investment is a challenge, with the number of smaller fundraising deals (€0.1M–€3M) dropping from 64 (2023) to 27 (2024). However, government-backed initiatives such as Enterprise Ireland, NDRC, and angel networks like AwakenAngels and HBAN continue to play a key role in supporting early-stage female founders.

• Large deals skewed total funding, with four companies—Nuritas, Croivalve, MBRYONICS, and Luminate Medical—accounting for 60% of the total funding raised by women-led startups in 2024.

• Female founders are leading in Life Sciences and HealthTech, which made up nearly 90% of all investment. Other sectors showing growth include Enterprise Software (€11M raised by 10 companies), EdTech (€1.6M from €0.1M in 2023), and Agri/Food (€3.5M from €1.2M in 2023).

• Galway’s female founders are making waves—11 companies in Galway raised a total of €54M, mostly in Life Sciences, while six of the 10 top-funded university spinouts were Galway-based.

• Women-led startups contribute over €4.5 billion in enterprise value to the Irish economy, with nearly half of that value coming from companies founded in the last decade.

While female founders in Ireland are proving their resilience and impact, the report emphasizes the need for greater early-stage funding, stronger networks, and continued government and private-sector support to bridge the gap.

Scale Ireland continues to advocate for better funding, policies, and visibility for women in tech and entrepreneurship. For more details, check out TechIreland’s full report.