Tech Nation: US Technology Continues to Lead the World but the UK Sees a 44% Increase in Total VC Investment

Press Releases

Mar 17, 2020

LONDON, March 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ —

Key findings:

£81.9bn was invested into US tech companies in 2019 – leading the world for another year
Investment into US tech companies dropped by 20% from 2018
10 global cities alone raised 44% of the total emerging tech funding from 2015 to 2019 – 70% of those cities were in the US
The US attracted 56% of global AI investment in the last 5 years, with China in second place
£2.54bn was invested into UK tech companies by US investors in 2019, accounting for 24% of all investment made into UK tech

Tech Nation, the growth platform for technology leaders, reveals findings today on the UK and US tech sectors in its annual, Tech Nation 2020 Report.

The US continues to lead the world in tech investment for another year. In 2019, £81.9bn was raised by US tech companies, followed by China at £32.2, and £10.1bn by UK tech companies. Investment into UK tech companies rose by 44% from 2018, however, investment dropped by 20% in the US from 2018, and in China investment dropped by 65%.

The US leads the world in Fintech investment at $17.2bn in the US compared to $5.2bn in the UK – Fintech remains the UK’s largest tech investment sector with a 100% rise from 2018. 44% of Europe’s Fintech unicorns and companies valued between $250m and $800m are based in the UK.

Emerging Technology

The US accounts for the lion’s share of global emerging tech investment, with over £75bn raised since 2015.

10 global cities alone raised 44% of the total emerging tech funding from 2015 to 2019 – 70% of those cities were in the US: San Francisco, New York, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Pittsburgh, San Jose.

Beijing leads in Asia, coming in second in the world for emerging tech funding at £10bn (since 2015), and London leads Europe coming in fifth globally at £4bn (since 2015). London received almost a quarter of the total emerging tech investment made in Europe, with most of this investment being channeled into AI development.

The US attracted 56% of all global investment into Artificial Intelligence in the last five years at £32bn, followed by China at £12bn and the UK at £3.2bn. In terms of deal count the US led, followed by the UK and China.

UK & US tech collaboration

£4.9bn was invested into UK tech companies by US investors in 2019, accounting for 45% of all investment made into UK tech. 24% of investment was made by US investors, and 21% from Asian investors.

The US had 427 Venture Capital deals completed in 2019 from UK based investors. Index Ventures completed the most with 43 deals which included HealthTech company TruePill located in California which has raised over £27mn and is now an approved NHS online pharmacy in the UK.

Tech Nation’s Future Fifty 8.0 programme

Tech Nation reveals today the 28 companies joining it’s Future Fifty 8.0 programme. The Future Fifty is Europe’s longest serving and most successful programme for late-stage tech business with 9 IPOs and 30 mergers and acquisitions. Successful applicants include Atom Bank, Babylon, Eigen Technologies, Elvie and BenevolentAI.

Many of the companies that have joined the Future Fifty programme have operations in the US, 70%. However, scaling internationally remains one of the key challenges, including maintaining company culture. The US is the number one destination for Future Fifty companies growing internationally.

Gerard Grech, Chief Executive, Tech Nation, commented:

“The US continues to lead the world when it comes to VC investment into US tech companies. I am pleased to see the UK performing well, raising considerable amounts of tech investment in 2019, up 44% on 2018, and the sector continuing to transform the UK economy – with 2.9m people now employed in technology in the UK.”

“Furthermore, I’m pleased to announce the 28 new companies joining our Future Fifty 8.0 programme, the longest serving and most successful late-stage programme for tech companies. We hope to see these companies become household names in the US market, shining a light for some of the UK’s key technology strengths, including Fintech and Healthtech.”

Mal Cowley, Co-founder & CEO, Partnerize, commented: “The tech community is very strong across Britain, and in the North East there are so many great companies changing the face of business and commerce. Our company headquartered in Newcastle has been able to build a global footprint by delivering an outstanding product that supports more than 300 brands around the world. From a strong commercial climate to a large pool of well-trained tech employees, our region is a great place to build an innovative global technology business.”

Poppy Gustafsson, CEO, Darktrace, commented: “It is fantastic that the UK stands as one of the top 3 countries investing in AI globally. The lifeblood of brilliant technology companies is access to capital and great talent, and Britain has both of these ingredients. Darktrace is a fantastic example of Great British AI proving itself fundamental in solving one of the society’s greatest challenges. Thousands of organizations around the world are using this technology to fight back on their behalf to protect their critical data and systems from crippling cyber-attacks.”

Dr Lewis Z. Liu, Co-founder & CEO, Eigen Technologies, commented: “There is real momentum right now in the European tech sector. From a global perspective I believe European tech as a whole has come of age in the last couple of quarters. We’ve seen the likes of Lakestar, Atomico, Balderton, and Northzone raise big funds, showing greater ambition than ever before. European tech, with London leading the way, is now starting to compete with the likes of Silicon Valley and Shenzhen.”

Baroness Joanna Shields, CEO, BenevolentAI commented: “Future Fifty was created to support high growth tech companies as they strive to scale up and become market leaders. BenevolentAI could not be more excited or proud to be part of the cohort in 2020. We are a great British business and we have an important and purposeful mission to push the boundaries of technology to understand the underlying cause of diseases and to use AI and machine learning to develop more effective medicines for patients. We are delighted to have Future Fifty by our side for the journey ahead.”

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