Investment in technology firms in Northern Ireland reached a record £143.2 million in 2024, according to data from Catalyst.

An annual report by the non-profit science and tech hub revealed that the investment was spread across 72 deals with an average investment of £1.99 million.

This compares to a total of £139 million invested in 2022 across 89 deals with an average investment of £1.6 million.

The report noted that there was a rise in investment for female-led companies, which accounted for 35 per cent of all deals in 2023.

The data comes after a recent study by the Alan Turing institute found that female founders of AI companies in the UK get just 0.7 per cent of all available funding.

Catalyst’s report added that many of the larger deals in 2023 were follow-on investments from existing investors who were willing to back existing positions, including a number of investments by UK Future Fund.

Steve Orr, chief executive of Catalyst said that he expects interest from investors to continue to grow.

“Less than ten years ago Northern Ireland registered only £5 million of venture capital investment into local companies in a year,” said he added. “Last year there were seven deals where companies raised more than that amount on their own.”

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