The funding rounds come as a Scale Ireland survey shows that start-ups still feel that raising capital in Ireland is a major challenge.
Ireland’s startup ecosystem has had a busy start to the year, with many announcing significant funding rounds. Foremost among the raises is quantum startup Equal1, which has announced a $60m round to help with the wider deployment of Ireland’s first quantum processing unit.
But recent research by Scale Ireland found that businesses still feel raising capital is the country’s biggest challenge. The findings are also in line with the Government’s 2025 report which found that Irish businesses will face a €1.1 billion gap in equity financing within three to five years.
Needless to say, funding startups is hard work. Here are 10 from across the island that made it.
At Aerska
Going public last October with a $21m seed round, the Irish RNA biotech announced its second raise earlier this month.
The $39m Series A round was led by EQT Dementia Fund and Age1, with participation from Iaso Ventures and other existing investors, and brings the total to $60m.
Aerska develops drugs that use RNA interference (RNAi), a technique that can silence dangerous genes associated with brain diseases. It has developed ‘brain motorcycles’ to deliver RNAi to fight diseases in the central nervous system.
AIC is guaranteed
The Dublin-based edtech announced a €1m raise in January, led by Oyster Capital with backing from Enterprise Ireland.
AICertified, a training platform for AI-related courses, was founded just last year by Ian Dodson, founder of the Digital Marketing Institute. Dodson wants his new business to establish “one trusted standard, provide a result-driven approach and ensure skills in a way that employers and students can trust”.
The investment is aimed at accelerating product development, growing the AICertified team from eight to 15 and growing the company’s learning platform ahead of its first course, launched this month.
A circle
Dublin-based fintech Circit secured $22m in equity growth this month to further scale its financial vetting and verification platform. The round was led by New York’s Ten Coves Capital, with participation from Aquiline and MiddleGame Ventures.
Founded in 2017, the District provides audit assurance, data verification and customer support services by connecting auditors directly with banks, financial institutions and other relevant organizations through secure networks.
The new funding will be used for product development, networking and expansion of the group, mainly in the US. Cycle has been named in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 list for 2025.
Equality 1
The Dublin-based quantum startup made waves last year with the launch of Ireland’s first quantum processing unit, Bell-1. And this January, it announced a $60m round to help deploy Bell-1 to high-performance computing centers, including the European Space Agency’s Phi-lab in Italy.
The funding round was led by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, with participation from Atlantic Bridge, the European Innovation Council Fund, Matterwave Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, Elkstone and TNO Ventures.
The funding will also enable Equal1 to advance its roadmap towards “millions” of on-chip qubits, scale production and grow its team.
Eolas
Belfast-based Eolas Medical raised $12m in Series A funding in January to expand its existing AI operations within the UK’s National Health Service and continue to expand internationally.
The 2019-founded company said its AI search platform aims to provide leading healthcare professionals with information tools that support clinical safety, adherence and productivity using a dedicated AI-powered platform. The platform is already being used in over 400 clinical sites in the UK.
Eolas founder and CEO Dr Declan Kelly said: “Eolas has always been about solving a real problem: giving healthcare professionals fast, reliable access to the information they need, when they need it.
Wait for the AI
Based twice in London and Dublin, this health technology announced a seed raise of 2.6 million euros in February to grow an AI platform for agents that provide dental procedures.
Co-founded by Irish sisters India and Portia Healy O’Connor and Lucio Tudisco, the Linda AI platform aims to avoid lost bookings and wasted energy in dental practices by providing a voice AI agent to deal with patients on the phone even when the reception desk may be busy or closed.
Its AI agents integrate with existing management and communications systems to complete administrative tasks such as appointment scheduling and rescheduling, confirmations, and patient tracking, working alongside front desk teams while automating workflows through voice, text and system integration when capacity is tied up.
Luna
Based in Dublin, Luna is a creator of AI security camera hardware for bicycles and motorcycles. It announced a late-stage investment round of €1.5 million in January, led by cycling-focused VC firm Fundracer Capital and EIT Urban Mobility, with additional support from Enterprise Ireland, with plans to bring its hardware to market.
Luna draws inspiration from features of ‘advanced driver assistance systems’ – computer vision technology embedded in vehicles such as cars that make it safer to drive – and incorporates AI-advanced assistance systems for bicycles and motorcycles.
Luna – founded in 2020 at Dublin City University – said it plans to use this latest raise to accelerate its marketing as a full-service provider, expanding its commercial scope.
Neurent Medical
Brian Shields-led Galway medtech closed a €62.5m Series C funding round in February for its Neuromark medical device that treats chronic rhinitis.
MVM Partners led the funding round, with participation from Sofinnova Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Atlantic Bridge, Fountain Healthcare Partners and Enterprise Ireland.
Neuromark uses the company’s proprietary Impedance Controlled Radiofrequency technology to target the overactive posterior nasal nerves that drive the symptoms of chronic rhinitis, which affects millions worldwide.
Shields said the new investment will allow it to expand patient access, enable additional evidence for more people and support continued development of the pipeline offering.
The Overpath
2025 startup Overpath raised €1.6m in late January – in a round led by Elkstone – to develop its AI sales platform for revenue teams. AI-focused investor Sure Valley Ventures also participated in the funding round.
Overpath said it is building a new layer in the revenue stack focused on sales enablement, including sales force, revenue performance and training software. The platform analyzes the behavior of live protocols across systems, and tries to identify gaps for early action.
The platform is powered by an AI model of a domain-specific sales language trained on the actual behaviors, deal methods and usage patterns used by high-performing teams, according to the company,
TeamFeePay
And in January, Belfast-based sports technology start-up TeamFeePay announced the closing of a £9m funding round to help expand its coaching services platform into new markets and fuel a recruitment drive.
Founded in 2021, the startup has developed a software platform that helps football coaches and clubs organize matches, training sessions and events, as well as track attendance and manage administrative tasks.
The platform has almost 300,000 users and supports more than 1,500 clubs. The new funding is expected to support growth in the UK, enable further expansion in Europe and fund new product development.
YFM Equity Partners led the funding round with a £4.5m investment, the Northern Ireland Investment Fund raised £3m, and Techstart contributed £800,000.
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