Ireland is found to be a new haven for entrepreneurs in terms of technology investments, according to a research by financial information firm Dow Jones & Company.
The Irish Independent, citing figures compiled by Dow Jones' VentureSource, said the country attracted four times as much venture capital funding per capita as the European average. Ireland has also attracted a whooping 650 times as much venture financing per capita as bottom-ranked Bulgaria, the report said.
According to Irish Independent, the data looks at the total amount of venture capital raised by tech companies in each European country since 2003 and adjusts for population size.
After Ireland came Sweden, the UK, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany and Switzerland. The bottom three are Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, the report said.
Irish Independent said the data showed that Ireland's tech startups have largely survived the global recession. At least two-fifths of the 311 venture capital-backed deals in the past decade were closed after the economy collapsed in 2009. Ireland's small and mid-sized businesses raised a total of EUR164.9 million in the first half of 2013. This was 41% higher than funds raised during the same period last year, the report said.
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