The report shows that women in Ireland, raising funds, have outshined their European peers.

TechIreland, the all-island portal that showcases start-ups and the Irish innovation landscape, has released the Female Founder Funding Review 2026, which tracks investment into women-founded startups throughout 2025. 

The report shows that last year, 82 Irish start-ups being led by women raised a total of €131m, which was recorded as the highest number of women-led start-ups funded in any given year. For comparison in 2025 there were 36 organisations that raised between €0.1m and €0.3m but only eight in 2024. 11 companies raised €18.7m. 

Despite this positive figure however, the average deal size was shown to have significantly declined. In 2024, the average raise was €3.9m, dropping to €2.3m in 2025, with the report suggesting that this is as a result of an increase in the volume of deals being made.  

The median figure also dropped to just €100k last year, compared to €1.5m in 2024, indicating that the divide between the smaller group of large rounds and the large number of very small rounds is widening. The report does say however, that even in this landscape Irish female founders are outshining their European peers in the raising of early-stage funding. 

“While the Dealroom startup ecosystems portal shows a decline in the number of early-stage rounds for women founded start-ups, the trend in Ireland represents a nearly two-fold increase in the number of rounds raised by women founded start-ups last year. Thanks to the heavy lifting by Enterprise Ireland through their focused support for women entrepreneurs.”

TechIreland’s research suggested that angel networks, for example HBAN and AwakenAngels, as well as early-stage accelerator programmes such as Fierce and NextWave, alongside flagship supports such as Enterprise Ireland’s PSSF and HPSU, play a critical role in building a strong platform for women founders.

The report also highlights a key sectoral influence. Funding into the life sciences and healthcare sectors made up almost 70pc of the total funds raised. This was mirrored in wider Europe where health remains a top sector among female founders. 

The enterprise software sector also performed well, growing from €10.7m raised by 10 start-ups in 2024, to €30.7m raised by 22 companies in 2025. Other sectors experiencing growth included the agri/food space, consumer and e-commerce, while cleantech and fintech continue to decline.  

Funding was also disproportionate regionally. Similar to previous years, companies in  Dublin dominated the overall figures. More than 90pc of all funding into start-ups established by women took place at Dublin locations. The report attributed this to the fact that ProVerum, which accounted for nearly half of all funding raised, is a company based in Dublin. 

Commenting on the findings of the report, the chair of TechIreland, Brian Caulfield said, “2025 was an interesting year for female founders from a fundraising perspective. On the face of it, the numbers held up pretty well. 

“While it’s encouraging to see so many female founded companies raising capital, it’s a concern that the market has bifurcated, a very small number of companies raising large rounds, and a very large number of companies raising very small rounds, largely led by Enterprise Ireland. The mid-market of seed and Series A raises is being hollowed out.”

Sarah Walker, who oversees startups and entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland said, “The headline TechIreland figure, 82 companies raising in 2025, is almost double last year and the highest level of activity since 2017 which is cause for celebration. 

“While the increased number of women led and co-founded companies raising is encouraging, TechIreland reports total funding levels of €131m in 2025, down from €145m in 2024, reflecting a challenging funding environment.”

Lorraine Curham, the founder of Fierce added, “For Ireland, the next challenge is what comes after that first cheque. In more mature ecosystems, founders are supported not just by programmes, but by strong networks, investor relationships and ecosystem layers that help companies move from early traction into follow-on capital and scale. Ireland has the pipeline. What it needs next is the infrastructure layer to scale it.”

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A new Android malware named BeatBanker can hijack devices and tricks users into installing it by posing as a Starlink app on websites masquerading as the official Google Play Store.

The malware combines banking trojan functions with Monero mining, and can steal credentials, as well as tamper with cryptocurrency transactions.

Kaspersky researchers discovered BeatBanker in campaigns targeting users in Brazil. They also found that the most recent version of the malware deploys the commodity Android remote access trojan called BTMOB RAT, instead of the banking module.

BTMOB RAT provides operators with full device control, keylogging, screen recording, camera access, GPS tracking, and credential-capture capabilities.

Persistence via MP3

BeatBanker is distributed as an APK file that uses native libraries to decrypt and load hidden DEX code directly into memory, for evasion.

Before launching, it performs environment checks to ensure it’s not being analyzed. If passed, it displays a fake Play Store update screen to trick the victims into granting it permissions to install additional payloads.

To avoid triggering any alarms, BeatBanker delays malicious operations for a period after its installation.

According to Kaspersky, the malware has an unusual method to maintain persistence, which consists of continuously playing a nearly inaudible 5-second recording of Chinese speech from an MP3 file named output8.mp3.

“The KeepAliveServiceMediaPlayback component ensures continuous operation by initiating uninterrupted playback via MediaPlayer,” Kaspersky explains in a report today.

“It keeps the service active in the foreground using a notification and loads a small, continuous audio file. This constant activity prevents the system from suspending or terminating the process due to inactivity.”

Stealthy cryptocurrency mining

BeatBanker uses a modified XMRig miner version 6.17.0, compiled for ARM devices, to mine Monero on Android devices. XMRig connects to attacker-controlled mining pools using encrypted TLS connections, and falls back to a proxy if the primary address fails.

The miner can be dynamically started or stopped based on device conditions, which the operators closely monitor to ensure optimal operation and maintain stealth.

Using Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), the malware continuously sends the command-and-control (C2) server information about the device’s battery level and temperature, charging status, usage activity, and whether it has overheated.

By stopping mining when the device is in use and by limiting its physical impact, the malware can remain hidden for a longer period, mining for cryptocurrency when conditions allow it.

While Kaspersky observed all BeatBanker infections in Brazil, the malware could expand to other countries if proven effective, so vigilance and good security practices are recommended.

Android users shouldn’t side-load APKs from outside the official Google Play store unless they trust the publisher/distributor, should review granted permissions for risky ones that aren’t relevant to the app’s functionality, and perform regular Play Protect scans.

Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.

Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.

Download The Report

Workers who excessively use AI agents and tools at work are at increased risk of mental fatigue, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study. In certain industries, more than 25% of hired professionals report increased mental strain due to their role in AI oversight — though these professionals also generally experienced less burnout than peers who aren’t using AI.

This phenomenon — which the researchers refer to as “AI brain fry” — is described as a “‘buzzing’ feeling or a mental fog” that caused study participants to develop headaches and difficulty focusing and making decisions. Individuals pointed to being overwhelmed by large amounts of information and to frequent task switching as the reasons for these feelings.

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Studied individuals experienced more brain fry when they utilized AI agents to manage a workload beyond their own cognitive capacity. When participants used AI to replace mundane, repetitive tasks, managing the growing number of tools led to increased mental fatigue. 

Crucially, the study found that fewer individuals who used these AI agents reported workplace burnout.

The researchers predict that this is because burnout testing assesses emotional and physical distress. In contrast, they report, acute mental fatigue “is caused by marshalling attention, working memory and executive control beyond the limited capacity of these systems.” 

These are the processes that are taxed when study participants use multiple AI tools in their workflow, according to the researchers.

The Harvard study identifies several business costs incurred by workers suffering from AI brain fry. The foremost consequence is that these individuals may end up making lower-quality decisions. “Workers in [the] study who endorsed AI brain fry experience 33% more decision fatigue than those who did not,” the study reports. Workers who report AI brain fry were also more likely to self-report making both minor and major errors at their jobs.

Another recent Harvard Business Review study similarly found that employees who use AI tools “worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks and extended work into more hours of the day,” but warned that “workload creep can in turn lead to cognitive fatigue, burnout and weakened decision-making.”

Chinese smartphone-makers OnePlus and Oppo plan to raise prices on some existing models starting next week, according to a 9to5Google report citing GizmoChina and a notice posted on Oppo’s China online store.

In its notice, Oppo said it would adjust pricing after evaluating rising costs for several key components used in its mobile phones. The changes are expected to take effect around March 16 and will affect some of the company’s more affordable smartphones, as well as some OnePlus models. 

Flagship devices — like those in the Find and Reno series — are not expected to be affected for now. The reported adjustments currently appear to be limited to China.

The move highlights growing pressure across the smartphone supply chain as component costs climb. Analysts say prices for memory and storage chips used in phones have been rising in recent months as demand surges across the tech industry. 

Much of the chip demand is coming from the rapid buildout of AI data centers, which rely on large amounts of high-performance memory. 

That pressure isn’t limited to Oppo and OnePlus. Analysts say smartphone brands across the industry are facing rising component costs amid increased demand for memory chips.

As manufacturers shift production toward higher-margin memory used in AI servers, supply for consumer electronics such as smartphones and laptops can tighten. 

If component costs continue to rise, manufacturers may face difficult choices later this year, including raising retail prices or adjusting device specifications to offset higher manufacturing costs.

OnePlus and Oppo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The first step to fighting a war in space is knowing what’s happening tens of thousands of miles above the planet. Toward that end, defense tech darling Anduril is buying boutique data firm ExoAnalytic Solutions.

ExoAnalytic operates a network of 400 telescopes around the world, which it uses to track spacecraft in high orbits above the planet. The company’s engineers develop software that converts those observations into situational awareness tools for U.S. national security agencies watching adversary spacecraft and coordinating American assets on orbit.

“This is a company we’ve been working with closely for the last several years on a number of programs, and they are experts in space domain awareness and missile defense,” Anduril VP of engineering Gokul Subramanian told reporters. “We believe the [Department of Defense] deserves the best catalog of everything going on in space.”

The privately-held companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. Anduril is in the process of raising a $4 billion round from investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, Reuters reported last week.

ExoAnalytics will be directly integrated into Anduril, not run as a separate subsidiary, though Subramanian said it would continue to serve existing and future outside customers. Currently, Anduril has 120 employees focused on space defense, a number that will more than double with the addition of 130 ExoAnalytics employees.

The company’s technology could help Anduril win government contracts supporting Golden Dome, the missile defense system that the US Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to build. That system is expected to include thousands of satellites to track and target enemy missiles, and maintaining real-time awareness and coordination among them will be a heavy lift.

Anduril is planning to launch three spacecraft this year as internally-funded R&D projects that will draw on capabilities gained in the acquisition. Subramanian said ExoAnalytic’s experience processing space data would be used in an infrared tracking satellite it plans to launch this year in partnership with Apex Space. The space tracking data will be used to execute two missions in high orbit expected to launch this year in partnerships with Impulse Space and Argo Space, respectively.

There’s another potential angle to the acquisition — the machine vision algorithms ExoAnalytic has developed to spot satellites in orbit are also useful for interceptors trying to track and engage with incoming threats. Anduril received a contract from the Pentagon in late 2025 to begin developing a space-based missile interceptor.

ExoAnalytic was founded in 2008 to adapt missile defense sensor technology to track spacecraft in orbit after U.S. military officials called for new and better ways to understand what was happening in space, CEO Doug Hendrix said in a 2024 interview. The company’s early growth was funded by grants and contracts from the federal government, including $26 million in SBIR grants since 2010.

U.S. Space Force officials have expressed deep concern about Chinese and Russian spacecraft that fly closely alongside American and European satellites, where they could potentially intercept communications or damage the satellite with electronic or other weapons.

“Two years ago, an [U.S. commander in the Pacific told] me that the fleet cannot leave the port without the space layer being secured,” Subramanian said. “We’ve been on a mission for the last several years to figure out how to be a part of that solution.”