The UK’s burgeoning tech startup scene saw a 78% increase in VC funding in 2014 as it hit $1.7B in total venture funding across 225 deals. The year saw a peak in funding in Q3’14 with more than $500M invested across 59 deals. The quarter’s funding tally was largely driven by a $170.7M investment into The Hut Group. Deals reached a 4 year high in Q2’14 but fell for the subsequent two quarters to deal activity levels last seen in 2012.
On a city-level, London dominates deals and dollars, accounting for 65% of all funding and 67% of all deals to VC-backed companies. However, two of the top deals in the UK were to non-London based companies: The Hut Group (Northwich) raised a $170.7M investment and NewVoiceMedia (Hampshire) raised a $50M Series E round.
Octopus Ventures was the most active VC investing in UK Tech in 2014. Octopus’ investments included Zynstra, Certivox, and Adbrain among others. Index Ventures was second, while Notion Capital, Accel Partners, and Balderton Capital tied for third. 5 firms had 10 or more investments in 2014 highlighting the UK’s more robust investment ecosystem.
*Featured photo credit to Flavio Leone
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