UK Tech VC hit $15bn record in 2020 and continues to thrive

Tech is fast becoming an important growth sector for the UK economy. In fact, the Tech Nation report (UK Govt fund) shows that UK Tech continues to thrive in 2021 as a world leader.

Ed Tech, Health Tech and Clean Tech have all played pivotal roles over the last year. From bringing the classroom into the homes of children across the UK, to ensuring locked-down patients gained access to the GPs and healthcare, as well as a continued commitment to COP26 (the UN climate change conference) delivering steps needed for a net zero world in the future.

The UK is holding its own against the other big players in the world of tech. The leading hubs being London, Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. London comes in fourth behind San Francisco, Beijing, and New York for global Tech VC investment at $10.6bn.

Interestingly, the UK is capturing the attention of international investors. In 2020 63% of investment into UK tech came from overseas – a massive 50% increase from investments in 2016. Investment in Deep Tech saw the highest rate of global growth in the UK at 17%.  Likewise, Impact Tech saw a massive growth of 160% since 2018, making the UK third in the world (in the US impact tech grew 15% for the same period).

It is not just established tech that is seeing a growth in stats and investment, the UK start-up and scaleup ecosystem is growing too. Its current value stands at $585bn, which is more than double the next most valuable ecosystem at $291bn in Germany.

The Tech Nation UK Spotlights interactive map gives interesting insights into regional highlights. For example, London has almost 80k digital tech firms, 55 unicorns and employs over 800k people. It also shows £8.6bn investment in 2020. Outside of London, other regions are showing impressive stats. Birmingham is the tech hub of the West Midlands with 14k tech firms, 2 unicorns and 65k employment in the region. The investment for 2020 was £7m. Further down the country in the west, Bristol saw a 2020 investment of £340m.

Tech Nation Key Statics and UK Spotlights reports contain far more in-depth information on UK tech – a very interesting read indeed.

Read more news and insights from JMR Global here.

References:
Tech Nation - Key Statistics https://technation.io/report2021/#key-statistics
Tech Nation - UK Spotlights https://technation.io/report2021/#uk-spotlights