In its fourth annual survey, Scale Ireland has found that funding remains the number one concern among founders and CEOs, while 88pc are deploying AI.
Now in its fourth year, Scale Ireland’s 2025 State of Start-ups Survey found that for the fourth year funding remains by far the biggest concern for founders and CEOs, with more than 80pc of respondents saying it is “difficult” or “very difficult” to attract capital.
Uptake of State supports remained low with just 1pc of founders using the KEEP share options scheme to help recruit and retain staff, while nearly 58pc are not availing of the R&D tax credit, an improvement on 64pc in 2023.
“Funding is without doubt the number one issue for start-ups,” said CEO of Scale Ireland, Martina Fitzgerald. “It is vital that we mobilise private capital to ensure Irish companies can scale globally and remain here in Ireland. We do not want to see some of our best tech companies leaving Ireland.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Scale Ireland chair Brian Caulfield, who pointed to potential policy changes need, if start-ups are to attract private capital. “We need to significantly support greater levels of angel and VC investment, revenue growth capital and IPOs,” he said.
“We also need to unlock pension fund savings into indigenous companies. Even a small change would have a significant impact.”
The survey reflects contributions from 235 founders and CEOs of tech start-ups and scaling companies.
Scale Ireland, the independent, not-for-profit organisation, supports, promotes and advocates on behalf of Irish tech start-ups and scale-up companies, with a mission to make Ireland a leading location for innovation and entrepreneurship. It is hosting its annual conference today in Athlone.
Talent arose as a major issue also with more than half of founders surveyed saying staff retention was as difficult as the previous year, while almost 17pc found it more difficult. One-third lost staff over the last 12 months. However, almost 75pc either did not lay off any staff or it was not an issue for them. Nearly two-thirds of start-up leaders feel Ireland is not doing enough to help indigenous tech firms attract and retain talent, and there was frustration around the difficulty of accessing many state supports and tax incentives.
Nearly 87pc of respondents acknowledged the “significant” or “very significant” contribution from immigrant workers, with almost 50pc saying they employed workers from outside the EU. Some 58pc of respondents had a female founder on their leadership team, which is a significant increase from last year’s 51pc.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey found that nearly 88pc of start-ups are deploying or preparing to deploy artificial intelligence (AI). When it came to the EU AI Act, however, only 59pc were aware of it, and nearly 44pc said they don’t know what impact it will have on their business.
“It is a concern that many start-ups are not clear about the impact of new EU AI regulations on their businesses,” said Fitzgerald.