Enterprise Ireland invested €27.6 million in Irish start-ups in 2024, supporting 157 companies through its High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) and Pre-Seed Start Fund (PSSF) programs. The results were announced at Enterprise Ireland’s annual Start-Up Day Conference in Dublin on May 7th, 2025, attended by over 600 delegates. During the event, 90 HPSUs were supported, each with the potential to create 10 jobs and €1 million in sales within three years.
Additionally, 69 PSSF investments were made to provide early-stage funding. Notably, 63 companies were based outside of Dublin, 45 start-ups were women-led, 13 HPSUs emerged from academic research, 25 were spun out of third-level institutions, and 34 received support through the Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund Programme. 2024 marked the final year of Enterprise Ireland’s three-year ‘Leading in a Changing World 2022-2024’ strategy.
During this period, 266 HPSUs and 213 Pre-Seed Start Fund approvals were made, with half of the companies based outside of Dublin. Over €78 million was invested in these start-up companies.
Enterprise Ireland’s 2024 investment impact
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism, and Employment, Peter Burke TD, emphasized the importance of celebrating Irish entrepreneurship and noted the resilience and business ambition of Irish-founded start-up teams. Enterprise Ireland’s new strategy, ‘Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally,’ aims to support 1,000 new start-ups from 2025 to 2029. Kevin Sherry, Interim CEO of Enterprise Ireland, highlighted the organization’s goal to accelerate sustainable Irish businesses, aiming for exporting Irish companies to become primary drivers of the economy.
A dedicated consultation process with the start-up ecosystem will be undertaken to strengthen early-stage companies with potential for international scaling. The Start-Up Day also featured a pitching event, where top university spin-out ventures, supported by Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund, competed for an award and the opportunity to participate in UC Berkeley’s Venture Connectivity Program. Patrick Cronin of the University of Limerick received the Big Ideas Award for his company, Oscil, which has developed a cutting-edge deep-tech product that fuses Edge-AI with powder processing.
Tara Dalton of University of Limerick spin-out TANGO was named the Big Ideas runner-up for creating a novel instrument that measures T-cell function. Michael Carey, chair of Enterprise Ireland, emphasized the significance of the event in showcasing Enterprise Ireland’s research approaching start-up status, with significant potential for global impact. Carol Gibbons, head of regions and local enterprise at Enterprise Ireland, discussed the agency’s future plans to launch 1,000 start-ups by 2029, partnering with investors, third-level organizations, and multinationals to realize this vision.