Three large-scale deals accounted for almost two-thirds of all funding that Irish companies attracted from venture capital (VC) in the second quarter of the year, KPMG said on Thursday, with software and artificial intelligence (AI) companies dominating the investment landscape. The Big Four firm said 20 deals were completed in the three months to the end of June, for a total value of $342.2 million (€296 million). That was up by more than 150 per cent in value terms from the same period last year and 61 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2026. Deal volumes were little changed quarter on quarter and year on year, according to KPMG’s latest Venture Pulse report. Just three VC deals, valued at $216 million between them, accounted for 63 per cent of the total, however. Dublin-based Fonoa, an artificial intelligence-driven tax technology company, topped the table after raising $110 million in a Series C funding round in June led by global VC firm Headline. Also in June, CameraMatics, an Irish tech company that uses AI to make fleet vehicles safer, raised $56 million from a consortium led by UK investment firm Blume Equity, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and AIB’s Goodbody Capital Partners.Finally, Bobby Healy’s drone delivery company, Manna, was responsible for the third largest deal of the quarter, as it raised a reported $50 million in March from a consortium including ISIF, Boston-based Schooner Capital and Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, among others. Healy subsequently announced a “strategic pause” to Manna’s Irish delivery operations. The company faced several setbacks this year, including decisions by local councils that blocked its ability to operate drone delivery hubs in parts of Dublin.KPMG said that AI-enabled businesses attracted “significant attention” over the period, with the uptick in investment values largely driven by international investors. “The majority of fundraising this quarter has flowed to software businesses,” said Gavin Sheehan, partner in deal advisory at KPMG Ireland. “While a couple of more established start-ups have raised significant later-stage funding, there are a variety of AI-native applications raising smaller seed rounds as they seek to develop solutions across niche verticals.”