💡 Where’s everyone going?

👋 Céad míle fáilte!

Ireland’s population has just ticked up to 5.46 million, according to Central Statistics Office figures. A handful of takeaways that say a lot:

• 125,300 people moved to Ireland in the past year (including 31,500 returning Irish)

• 9,600 came from the U.S. (almost double last year’s figure).

• Net migration added nearly 60,000 people to Ireland’s population.

• Dublin now accounts for 29% of the total population.

• Over-65s are on the rise, making up nearly 16% of all residents.

But here’s the kicker, for me anyway: 13,500 people left for Australia, the highest in over a decade and nearly triple 2023 levels. Just imagine if Tim Tams were stocked in the local Spar. We’d be talking national evacuation.

After spending nearly 10 years in Aus myself, I’m constantly asking whether I’d ever move home… and I’m keen to hear from our readers who are based abroad:

⏳ Today’s dispatch takes 5 minutes 15 seconds to read. ⏩ Only got 15 seconds? Here’s what matters:

• 💊 €10B pill: CapVest takes a giant bite of German pharma.

• 🤖 Brains raid: Anthropic poaches Humanloop CTO Peter Hayes.

• 🏦 Bankers unite: AIB, BOI & PTSB launch Zippay to rattle Revolut.

• 🚀 Galway galactic: Mbryonics hires 125 to power “Internet in Space”.

• 💸 €99 milly in funding: Sports Impact Technologies, ProVerum Medical, Tipple & more.

Enjoy ☕

LATEST UPDATES
News From Abroad ✈️

🇩🇪 €10B pharma power play: CapVest Partners, the Irish-led private equity firm out of London led by Seamus Fitzpatrick, has just pulled off its boldest move yet, taking a 70% stake in German pharma giant STADA. At roughly €10 billion, it’s not only one of Europe’s largest healthcare deals of 2025 but nearly the size of CapVest’s entire €12B asset base. STADA isn’t just another generics player either, it’s a €4B-revenue machine with 11,600 staff spread across consumer health, generics, and specialty pharma.

🇬🇧 London AI talent raid: Anthropic has snapped up Humanloop’s co-founders including Irishman and CTO Peter Hayes. The UCL-spinout made its name building evaluation and prompt-ops tools for enterprises like Duolingo and Gusto. While Anthropic didn’t buy Humanloop’s IP, the move is pure brains-over-assets. Hayes and crew now bring their LLM safety and tooling chops directly into Anthropic’s battle with OpenAI and Google for the corporate AI stack.

🇦🇺 🇳🇿 Gateway to Europe: Ireland is pitching itself as the launchpad for Australian and New Zealand firms eyeing the EU. Companies like SiteMinder, Macquarie, and Plenary are already on the ground, tapping Irish talent and using Galway and Dublin as hubs to serve wider European markets.

Back Home 🏠

• Revolut beware, the Irish heavyweights are teaming up. AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB have joined forces to launch Zippay, a new mobile payments service set to land in 2026.

• Ireland is holding its own while global fintech funding has been choppy. According to KPMG’s latest VC report, 20 deals worth $136.4m closed in Ireland in Q2 2025.

• Galway takes on space: Mbryonics is creating 125 new jobs to power its “Internet in Space” mission, turning Ireland’s west coast into a launchpad for next-gen satellite connectivity.

EXTRA INSIGHTS
6 Irish-affiliated businesses secure a combined €99 million

🏑 Sports Impact Technologies: Raised €650k pre-seed for a behind-the-ear wearable that detects concussions and pings real-time alerts to coaches and medics.

🍽️ SynergySuite: The Utah based company closed a $12m Series B for its AI-powered restaurant management platform handling rostering, compliance, and inventory.

🩺 ProVerum Medical: Landed a massive €80m Series B to scale its minimally invasive prostate treatments. The Trinity College Dublin spin-out will fund clinical trials and global expansion, one of the biggest Irish medtech raises this year.

📊 Sonrai Analytics: Secured an undisclosed round led by Beach Equity. Their AI platform helps pharma companies find patients for clinical trials faster, sitting right at the intersection of health and data.

🎟️ Tixserve: Raised £1.85m from Maven via the British Business Bank’s SWIF. Its digital ticketing platform delivers white-label apps for event organisers, turning ticket delivery from a cost into a fan-engagement investment.

🥃 Tipple: Closed a €4m seed round to accelerate digitalisation in the spirits industry with its platform for smarter distribution and supply chain management.

👉 GOT FUNDRAISING NEWS? 
If you’re raising, just raised, or know someone who is we’d love to hear about it. Drop us a line by sending us a email - [email protected]

🧠 BRAIN FOOD
Dodgy Boxes, Startup Fixes & Irish Eagles

💬 Quote: “Give founders back time to build.” DC Cahalane, Venture Partner at SVV, backing EU INC, a push for one unified company structure across all 27 EU states

💼 Job: Customer Success Manager @ Intercom (London 🇬🇧). Guide top brands through the AI customer service revolution.

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🎧 Pod: Modernising a national institution: The story behind An Post with CEO David McRedmond.

🐄 That’s Interesting: 20 innovative Irish agritech start-ups that are transforming agriculture with AI, robotics, and sustainability.

😊 Good news: Rory McIlroy triumphs at Irish Open after stunning eagle putt forces play-off.

😂 Meme: Irish supporters go viral with jersey sponsored by 'dodgy box' rather than Sky:

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