Supported by the Digital Economy Council and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
UK Tech Ecosystem update
DECEMBER 2020
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Source: Dealroom.co.
May 2020
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Venture capital investment in UK
Top UK rounds in 2020
$500M�London | $500M London | $400M London |
$333M London | $360M London | $310M London |
$264M�Solihull | $200M London | $200M London |
$198M London | $150M London | $150M Bristol |
$133M Farnborough | $130M Abingdon | $125M London |
UK startups and scaleups raised record investment in 2020, closing $15B in VC funding, despite challenging macro conditions.
$5.4B
$5.9B
$9.2B
$9.8B
$14.8B
$15.0B
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: Investment data for 2020 until December 14th.
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Source: Dealroom.co.
May 2020
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Tech hubs of Oxford, Newcastle and Glasgow showed the highest investment growth in 2020, and Fintech continued to be the leading UK tech sub-sector.
Venture capital investment in UK by sector (2020)
Venture capital investment by city/hub | 2019 | 2020 |
London | $10.7B | $10.4B |
Oxford | $135M | $532M |
Cambridge | $496M | $265M |
Bristol | $441M | $192M |
Edinburgh | $166M | $112M |
Manchester | $223M | $71M |
Newcastle upon Tyne | $21M | $60M |
Leeds | $34M | $45M |
Glasgow | $17M | $43M |
Cardiff | $100M | $38M |
Belfast | $27M | $22M |
Birmingham | $33M | $8M |
Health
Marketing
Enterprise Software
Food
Cybersecurity
Transportation
32%
16%
15%
12%
6%
6%
5%
6%
Fintech
Energy
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: Investment data for 2020 until December 24th.
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Venture capital investment
The UK tech continues to outperform all European neighbours in 2020, raising more than Germany and France combined in 2020.
$5.9B
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Rest of Europe
$9.2B
$9.8B
$14.8B
$15.0B
$2.4B
$3.6B
$5.2B
$7.4B
$6.9B
$2.5B
$2.9B
$4.2B
$5.4B
$6.1B
$7.7B
$9.6B
$10.7B
$14.6B
$14.8B
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: Investment data for 2020 until December 24th.
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
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Early-stage and scaleup investment has shown resilience in 2020, posting higher totals than any previous year other than 2019.
OR
Seed
$1M-$4M
Series A
$4M-$15M
Series B
$15M-$40M
Series A
$4M-$15M
Series B
$15M-$40M
VC investment per round type
Number of rounds per round type
Seed
$1M-$4M
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: Investment data for 2020 until December 14th. The labels “Seed”, “Series A” are standardised labels per Dealroom.co method, not the reported labels as they are not consistently applied.
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The UK is a successfully maturing tech ecosystem. Series C rounds have seen consistent growth in recent years, both by deal count and total investment.
VC investment per round type
Number of rounds per round type
Series C
$40M-$100M
Megarounds
$100M-$250M
Megarounds plus
$250M+
Series C
$40M-$100M
Megarounds
$100M-$250M
Megarounds plus
$250M+
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: Investment data for 2020 until December 14th. The labels “Seed”, “Series A” are standardised labels per Dealroom.co method, not the reported labels as they are not consistently applied.
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Late-stage funding is making up an ever greater share of UK investment, though a pipeline of venture-backed startups must be maintained at Seed stage.
% of investment in UK by round type
Seed
$1M-$4M
Series A
$4M-$15M
Series B
$15M-$40M
Series C
$40M-$100M
Megarounds
$100M-$250M
Megarounds plus
$250M+
Source: Dealroom.co estimates.
Note: the labels “Seed”, “Series A” are standardised labels per Dealroom.co method, not the reported labels as they are not consistently applied.
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Source: Dealroom.co.
May 2020
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Foreign investors are very active in late-stage UK funding rounds, with domestic and European VC investors dominating at early stage.
Domestic
Cross-border European
Rest of World
Asia
USA and Canada
% of investment in UK (2020) by source and round size
Source: Dealroom.co estimates.
Note: the labels “Seed”, “Series A” are standardised labels per Dealroom.co method, not the reported labels as they are not consistently applied.
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Source: https://public.flourish.studio/story/279152/
May 2020
United Kingdom: 7 | |
France: 4 | |
Germany: 2 | |
Netherlands: 2 | |
Sweden: 2 |
New unicorns in 2020
7 UK companies reached unicorn status in 2020, taking the total to 80 billion dollar tech companies produced in the UK.
United Kingdom
34 | Germany
18 | Netherlands
18 | France
15 | Sweden
12 | Switzerland
Cumulative number of European unicorns created by year $1 billion valuation was reached
Source: Dealroom.co.
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Source: https://public.flourish.studio/story/279152/
May 2020
Number of potential future unicorns
The UK is also home to 136 potential future unicorns, with London and Cambridge amongst the top 10 European hubs.
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Switzerland
Spain
Netherlands
Ireland
Sweden
Finland
Belgium
Denmark
136
61
61
24
15
13
13
9
9
8
7
London
Paris
Berlin
Munich
Dublin
Cambridge
Amsterdam
Barcelona
Stockholm
Zug
80
39
31
12
10
9
7
7
6
6
Source: Dealroom.co.
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New funds raised by VCs in UK
0M-$50M
$50M-$100M
$100M-$250M
$250M+
UK VCs have record levels of dry powder ready to deploy in 2021 and beyond
Seed | Series A+ | Growth stage |
$140M�Feb 2019 | $2B Apr 2020 | €700M Dec 2020 |
$115M�Jun 2019 | $820M Feb 2020 | $477M Mar 2019 |
$100M�Apr 2020 | $735M Feb 2020 | $375M Mar 2018 |
$80M�Sep 2019 | $500M Nov 2019 | €300M Mar 2019 |
£81M�Sep 2020 | $400M Nov 2019 | Latitude: $180M Dec 2018 |
£78M�Nov 2020 | $400M Sep 2020 | £110M Oct 2020 |
Over $14 billion raised by VCs in UK in 2019-2020 alone. Almost half of the $29 billion raised by European VCs.
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: VC funds data for 2020 until December 14th.
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New funds raised by European VCs
European venture capital funds are disproportionately centred in the UK.
$2.4B
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Rest of Europe
$3.2B
$6.4B
$5.5B
$8.2B
$1.1B
$1.9B
$1.7B
$2.0B
$2.9B
$1.0B
$2.6B
$2.0B
$1.3B
$1.4B
$4.5B
$2.8B
$3.7B
$4.7B
$5.8B
Source: Dealroom.co.
Note: VC funds data for 2020 until December 14th.
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
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Source: Dealroom.co.
May 2020
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Foreign investment is a sign of strength, with the UK investment landscape diversified for resilience.
% of foreign investment (2020) by country and source
For Israel and the UK, the high proportion of foreign investors reflects strong global investor appetite, especially from the USA and Asia (a sign of strength).
Germany and Sweden now has the lowest % of domestic capital of any major tech hub.
France wants to attract more foreign capital, especially from the USA and Asia.
0% | 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | 80% | 90% | 100% |
Israel | | | | | | | | | | |
United Kingdom | | | | | | | | | | |
Sweden | | | | | | | | | | |
Germany | | | | | | | | | | |
Europe | | | | | | | | | | |
Netherlands | | | | | | | | | | |
France | | | | | | | | | | |
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- Companies that IPO-ed at or above $1 billion but subsequently dipped below that valuation, are still included as $1B+ exit (examples: Alfa, Rovio, eDreams). - Some companies have at some stage reached a $1 billion but subsequently raised, IPO-ed or were acquired below that value. In this case the company is not counted as a unicorn (examples: Blippar, Home24, Fanduel, Ulmart, Conduit, Wonga, VE Interactive, Powa). - If a unicorn moved HQ, the company is counted in the country where it reached unicorn status. Occasionally companies received dual HQ status. |
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Methodology & definitions
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The most complete and detailed picture of UK’s tech ecosystem, in partnership with Tech Nation: datacommons.technation.io
76,000+
startups & scaleups
500+
Accelerators, workspaces
15,500+
funds & corporate investors
30,000+
Funding rounds & exits
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