Enterprise Ireland has ranked ahead of powerful investors Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures and has been named third in the world for its seed investment activity.

PitchBook, which is regularly used by over 70,000-plus venture capital, private equity, angel investors and investment professionals to profile global start-ups, has ranked the top VC investors in seed rounds since 2010.

In terms of deal counts it has ranked the following as the top seed investors in the world today:

PitchBook reported that since the beginning of 2010 2,387 VC investors have participated in at least one seed round globally.

During the timeframe, VCs have completed an increasing number of seed financings each year, with annual deal count jumping from 484 in 2010 to 1,943 last year.

This upward trend looks like it will end in 2015, however, as investors have completed only 1,215 deals so far this year.

Despite this, capital invested has stayed strong as VCs have already put $1.97bn into seed investments this year, surpassing 2014’s total of $1.95bn, according to PitchBook.

“A key focus for Enterprise Ireland is providing seed capital to start-up companies and we are delighted to have been ranked third among top venture capital investors worldwide, including SV Angel, Kima Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures,” said Kevin Sherry, executive director at Enterprise Ireland.

“This reiterates the important role that seed funding, and Enterprise Ireland, plays in providing essential finance to early stage companies as they begin their path to growth,” Sherry said.

Seed capital image via Shutterstock