UK leads Europe in scaleup investment

by Startacus Admin

The UK leads Europe and are fourth in the world for scaleup investment after US, China and India, according to the Tech Nation Report for 2019. 

Tech Nation, a leading scaleup-network for UK entrepreneurs, has announced the release of its 2019 Tech Nation Report with data from partners including Companies House, PitchBook, GitHub, the OECD and Streetbees, and in association with the World Economic Forum.

Standout headlines from the report highlight that the UK leads Europe and fourth in the world for scaleup investment after US, China and India, that Scaleup tech investment is 2.5x higher than expected based on the relative size of the UK economy in 2018, and that the UK is number one in the world for scaleup investment into fintech firms - generating £4.5bn in funding between 2015 and 2018.

Gerard Grech, CEO, Tech Nation commented: “The UK continues to exceed all predictions when it comes to tech growth. This report shows how the UK is a critical hub when it comes to global technology developments, with scale-up tech investment being the highest in Europe, and only surpassed by the US, China and India."

The annual report provides a comprehensive look into the evolution of the UK’s tech ecosystem, exploring the drivers that underpin and power economic growth within the sector.

For the first time, the report explores the wider international landscape, looking specifically at international and national tech investment, areas of potential growth and related specialisms, talent hubs and more.

Tech Nation launched last year, consolidating Tech City UK and Tech North, and as Tech Nation have expanding their network of growth programmes, events, skills and data resources across the whole of the UK.

The UK tech sector performed particularly well in investment last year. In 2018, the UK managed to attract 5% of global high-tech scaleup investment, placing it fourth in the world - ahead of Germany, France and Sweden.

London continues to remain the UK’s leader in attracting high-growth tech investment, receiving £9bn from 2015 to 2018. Cambridge is second, at £583m, with other UK cities continuing to make considerable ground.

Looking beyond high-growth tech companies, the last 12 years have seen a much greater distribution of investment across the UK.

Notably, the East of England has seen the greatest increase in capital invested across all tech companies, at 206%, followed by the West Midlands (54%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (51%).

it's no coincidence perhaps that, as the UK managed to attract 5% of global high-tech scaleup investment, that in 2018 the UK remained a home for tech talent, employing 5% of all high-growth tech workers globally, placing the UK ahead of Japan, France and Indonesia. Startacus waits to see if the impact of BREXIT changes this employment stat, as the UK tech scene does rely on a global workforce within that 5%. Hopefully not so.

In the UK, Insurtech and Fintech were the biggest employers among high-growth digital tech firms in 2018, employing 24% and 18% of the high-growth workforce respectively.

Eileen Burbidge, Partner, Passion Capital & Chair of Tech Nation commented: “The UK has an incredibly pivotal role in the global tech scene. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Fintech sector where the UK is ranked number one in the world; an enviable position that has been established with decades of hard work, entrepreneurial talent, innovation and supportive policymakers. I'm confident that we have all the ingredients needed for continued success and even greater acceleration of the tech sector here in the UK.”

Cyber, AI, and Cleantech all feature in the top ten sectors for employment in high-growth tech firms. Investment data shows that AI, Cyber and Big Data are growing in importance for UK tech scaleups. This means that the UK may be about to see more jobs generated in these sectors.

 

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Published on: 13th May 2019