New research has found that a record 82 Irish female-founded startups raised a total of €131m in funding last year, which was down €14m on 2024.
The TechIreland Female Founder Funding Review tracks investment into women-founded startups.
It found that deal sizes decreased significantly last year, with the average raise declining to €2.3m in 2025 from €3.9m in 2024.
Average funding dropped owing to an increase in the number of deals but the median also dropped to just €100,000 last year, compared to €1.5m in 2024.
According to TechIreland, this indicates that the divide between a group of a few very large rounds and that of a large number of very small rounds seems to be widening.
“2025 was an interesting year for female founders from a fundraising perspective,” said Chair of TechIreland, Brian Caulfield.
“On the face of it, the numbers held up pretty well.”
“While it’s encouraging to see so many female founded companies raising capital, it’s a concern that the market has bifurcated, a very small number of companies raising large rounds, and a very large number of companies raising very small rounds (largely led by Enterprise Ireland).”
“The mid-market of seed and Series A raises is being hollowed out,” Mr Caulfield said.
Sarah Walker, Startups & Entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland said the headline figure showing 82 companies raising in 2025 is almost double the previous and the highest level of activity since 2017 which is cause for celebration.
“While the increased number of women led and co-founded companies raising is encouraging, TechIreland reports total funding levels of €131m in 2025, down from €145m in 2024, reflecting a challenging funding environment,” Ms Walker said.