The UK tech sector has a global reputation. Companies such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies and ARM Holdings have become globally recognized names.

The UK’s trusted institutions, stable legal and economic environment, access to capital markets and its culture of innovation help to attract investors. Industry reaction to the 2023 Spring Budget from Jeremy Hunt was swift and positive.

Resilience

The UK’s expansive tech ecosystem is the key to the country’s success as a global centre of innovation and European Silicon Valley. Its penchant for science and technology coupled with its entrepreneurship have made it a natural breeding ground for start-ups, with the UK boasting more tech unicorns than Germany or France.

The figures, released by Dealroom on behalf of the Digital Economy Council, highlight the strength of the UK’s tech sector and its resilience in a difficult economic climate.

The tech industry employs more than 3 million people across the country, with some cities such as Bristol and Bath offering exceptional opportunities for tech entrepreneurs. This includes FinTech, which saw turnover rise by a staggering £14billion during the pandemic as businesses sought out new ways to manage their cashflow.

Growth

When a sector experiences growth it can bring about change – whether that’s changing job roles or finding new clients.

The strong UK tech ecosystem is a result of a number of factors including its global reputation for innovation, deep pools of investor capital and world-class universities which provide talent.

A key strength is a focus on standards and values.

Unicorns

In just over a decade, the UK has seen the number of tech companies valued at a billion dollars or more grow tenfold. This includes ‘unicorns’ in the fintech sector, such as London-based Tractable, which uses artificial intelligence to improve road safety by speeding up accident damage assessment.

The UK is also a hub for high-growth ‘futurecorns’. These are companies that have a potential value of over $1bn, and include Oxford-based CMR Surgical, Cambridge Quantum Computing, and Darktrace.

While a large proportion of the UK’s unicorns and futurecorns are located in London, there are a growing number of high growth scaleups across the country. For example, the Oxford and Cambridge areas are home to a number of high-tech unicorns, including Oxbotica (autonomous vehicle technology), and insurtech firms Wefox and neobank N26. And, in the North of England, there are a number of high-tech unicorns, such as e-commerce company The Hut Group and fitness brand Gymshark.

Investors

The UK’s tech sector has grown exponentially and continues to do so. However, there are still challenges ahead if it is to retain its status as Europe’s leading ecosystem and challenge the US and China.

Investors continue to provide a huge boost to the UK’s growing tech sector. New research by Dealroom shows the UK’s fast-growing technology businesses raised almost PS24 billion in 2022 – more than France and Germany combined.

Tech investment in the UK is not just focusing on seed stage companies as the proportion of early-stage investments has fallen, and series B and C funding has risen. The success of the UK’s 96 ‘unicorn’ companies such as WorldPay, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (providing rapid decentralized genomics) and ARM Holdings (smartphone chip designers) pays testament to the fact that the UK is truly a global technology powerhouse.  needs read more hear