Irish tech companies had a rather successful first six months of 2015, with a new survey revealing €307m was raised by start-ups and SMEs in that period.

The VenturePulse survey of Irish tech companies was undertaken by the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA) and also marks a significant jump of 45pc on the same period in 2014 when €211.9m was raised, and in 2013 when €164.9m was raised.

Among the findings, the survey of Irish tech companies found that a total of €187.1m was raised during the second quarter of 2015 alone.

Early-stage companies were able to raise €7.6m in Q2 alone – or 4pc of the total funds raised – while the total half-year amount was €19.4m in funds.

However, funding for early-stage companies appears to be fluctuating significantly during the first half of the last three years, with last year’s total amounting to €6.4m having fallen from €34.2m in 2013.

During the initial stages of the bust that occurred in the Irish economy in 2008, the findings show that a total of €2.3bn in venture capital funding was raised for more than 1,000 tech companies.

The success experienced during the second quarter of 2015, the IVCA said, was helped by strong support from international players.

Speaking of the survey’s results, the IVCA’s chairperson, Brian Caulfield, said: The Irish venture capital community continues to be the main source of funding for Irish innovative SMEs both through direct investment and as the local lead investor for international syndicates who invested €79m in the second quarter and a total of €142m in the first half of 2015.

“Most of the Irish companies that raised funds from international investors had initially raised capital from Irish VCs.”

Euro notes image via Shutterstock