Investment in UK technology startups and scaleups almost tripled in 2021

Investment in UK technology startups and scaleups nearly tripled in 2021, the latest figures have revealed.

The research, published by Dealroom for the UK’s Digital Economy Council, shows that the sector continued to thrive despite challenging economic conditions.

According to the report, £29.4 billion in venture capital funding was invested in the UK’s best and brightest firms in the year to December 2021 – up 2.3 times compared to last year’s figures of £11.5 billion.

The data also shows that UK tech is significantly outpacing Europe in terms of growth and investment. For example, investment in the UK was double that raised in Germany (£14.7 billion) and almost three times that raised in France (£9.7 billion).

The UK also has more unicorns (115 companies valued at $1 billion (£750 million) or more) than France (31) and Germany (56) combined, after creating 29 new unicorns this year alone. This includes e-commerce platform Depop, car selling platform Motorway, insurance disrupter Marshmallow, and challenger bank Starling Bank.

In total, UK tech investment accounted for a third of the total £89.5 billion invested in the European tech sector this year.

The study also reveals that more than a third (37 per cent) and the largest proportion of capital invested in UK tech is from the USA, up from 31.5 per cent last year.

Commenting on the figures, Yoram Wijngaarde, founder and CEO at Dealroom, said: “The UK tech ecosystem has exploded in the past year, with an increasing number of mega rounds minting new unicorns and futurecorns every day.

“This is significant because we know from research that employees at $1 billion plus companies often go on to found their own startups, some of which become unicorns themselves, which helps to shore up the ecosystem and lead to a new generation of global companies.”

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