Ireland sets €1 billion against the funding gap that pushes founders to sell or leave
Ireland's Budget 2027 sets out a €1 billion scaling programme through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to widen startup access to growth capital. An opinion piece in EU-Startups places it against a €1.1 billion equity-financing gap projected for 2030 by the Department of Enterprise in 2025, and a 2026 Scale Ireland survey in which three-quarters of founders find private capital difficult or very difficult to attract.
Irish companies tend to start well and stall at Series B and beyond, where founders typically sell to a foreign acquirer or move to the United Kingdom or United States. Ireland ranks seventh of twenty-seven EU member states on the European Startup and Scaleup Scoreboard, so the break comes halfway, not at the beginning. The €1 billion only changes that if capital arrives when a company needs it.
Source: EU-Startups · November 4, 2026