17th July 2018

Europe

Venture Capital Investment Has Found a New Home in the UK—This is Why.

Europe is chasing new dreams, and the tech sector is at the forefront of this new rising future.

Along with the fact that European markets are showing positive results despite the trade wars, they are also attracting large amounts of capital investment in countries like Estonia, Finland, Germany, Belgium and Israel. But there is a big champion in this long race, the United Kingdom.

According to various reports from international firms and consortiums, the UK enjoyed strong numbers in the second quarter of 2018 with nearly £1.55 billion invested in multiple sectors of the economy, more than a 10 percent growth compared with the first quarter of the year.

While fintech, autotech, biotech, medicine and cybersecurity are some of the targets that investors want to foster inside the UK, artificial intelligence is the hub that is attracting the biggest contenders and the most brilliant minds. These are the companies taking part of the whole picture:

  1. Revolut with $250 million.
  2. Freeline Therapeutics with $119 million.
  3. CRM Surgical with $100 million.
  4. Liberis with $81 million.
  5. Culture Trip with $80 million.
  6. Crescendo Biologics with $70 million.

One of the main reasons why the UK has become another centre for global interest in AI, relies on the fact that the national government is pushing a $1 billion deal to transform the country into a technological powerhouse in front of other big competitors in Asia, America and Europe.

The IPO market is not dying either, with the London Stock Exchange being at the first spot (contrasting with other European markets). Only in this quarter, 25 companies have raised more than £2 billion in share revenue (40 percent of these values belong to the tech industry). The actual numbers come as a positive face for the UK in 2018 after the socially traumatic Brexit event of 2016. Venture funding in Europe doesn’t get much attention as it is happening in the US and South East Asia, but the factors seem to be aligning in favour.