UK tech start-ups attracting record investment

Recent research suggests that investors have ploughed a record £9 billion into UK tech start-ups this year, placing the sector head and shoulders above the rest of Europe.

Tech firms have attracted £8.6 billion in venture capital so far this year, a 48 per cent increase year-on-year and more than double its two closest competitors in France and Germany. The sum is also double the amount flowing into the UK tech sector at the time of the Brexit referendum in 2016.

New businesses in London, Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol received the bulk of the investment, making the UK the undisputed tech capital of Europe, boasting 2,747 tech start-ups raising funding since 2015, compared to only 1,183 in Paris, its nearest rival.

One of the report’s authors commented European tech continues to be a bright spot in the global economy and in the past 12 months the sector has continued to break records.

He added that more than 150 billion-dollar tech firms have been created in Europe and there have been record levels of support from institutional investors. Meanwhile, at least 174 European tech firms have scaled up to become unicorns, meaning firms with a valuation of more than £1 billion.

Interestingly, more than half of these firms reach unicorn status without venture capital (VC) investment but separate research suggests that almost all start-ups now rely on VC money as the venture capital base matures.