The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has released analysis showing that more money than ever has flowed into UK tech this year.
- £29.4 billion has been invested in UK tech this year, up 2.3x from last year’s figures of £11.5 billion.
- Almost £9 billion of all Venture Capital (VC) investment went into startups and scaleups outside London and the South East.
- The combined value of UK tech companies founded since 2000 is now £540 billion.
According to analysis for the UK’s Digital Economy Council by Dealroom and Adzuna, Cambridge is the leading regional tech city in the UK thanks to its combination of high levels of VC funding, venture capital rounds, advertised tech salaries, number of unicorns (tech companies worth more than $1 billion) and futurecorns. The top 10 regional tech cities are:
- Cambridge
- Manchester
- Oxford
- Edinburgh
- Bristol
- Leeds
- Birmingham
- Newcastle
- Cardiff
- Belfast
Major factors in the increase of capital flow are US investment with 37 per cent of funding coming from the States; the UK capturing more than a third of investment into Europe; record IPO capital raising in London since 2007 and an increase in R&D spending from the UK Government.
The increased levels of money going into UK tech mean companies need trained technical and business staff. There has been a 50 per cent rise in overall UK tech job vacancies advertised this year compared to 2020’s figures.
More information from DCMS can be viewed here.