The UK is the leading European destination for Silicon Valley investors, with British tech companies raising more venture capital from Bay area VCs than any other European country.
According to the investment data released by London promotional company London & Partners, over the last five years UK tech companies have received more venture capital investment from West Coast investors than France, Germany and Ireland combined.
Silicon Valley investors continue to pump large sums of money into UK tech companies despite Brexit, with 2017 already seeing a record $1.13 billion raised since the beginning of the year.
The findings have been released to mark the start of Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK), a week-long series of events bringing together leading figures from the Bay area and UK tech scenes.
Sherry Coutu CBE, co-founder of SVC2UK and serial entrepreneur said: “With some of best global talent and a strong culture of entrepreneurship, the UK and Silicon Valley are two of the world’s leading places to start and scale a technology business.
“While London has grown to become Europe’s largest tech hub, we still have a way to go to emulate the success of Silicon Valley and there is a lot we can learn from each other.
“It is no surprise to see that British tech firms continue to attract more venture capital investment from the Bay area than any other European country and the figures released today suggest that Brexit has not had an impact.
“London will continue to be a diverse, outward looking city and we look forward to welcoming our friends from the Valley to encourage greater collaboration between the two centres.”
Further analysis of the investment data reveals that London tech companies received the majority of venture capital investment from the Bay area, accounting for over 90 per cent ($1.04bn) of the total amount raised by UK tech companies this year.
Over the last five years, London tech firms have also raised considerably more capital ($2.5bn) than their European counterparts, with Stockholm ($1.4bn), Berlin ($641m) and Paris ($500m) representing the next most popular cities for Silicon Valley investors.
London’s thriving VC market has been boosted by the number of unicorn companies based in the capital, with separate research from investment firm GP Bullhound revealing that London is home to more unicorns than any other European city.
Fresh analysis of its 2017 Titans of Tech report found that London accounts for almost one third of all unicorns in Europe.
With 17 out of the 53 unicorns founded in London, the UK capital has more unicorns than Stockholm (7), Berlin (5) and Paris (3) combined. Recent London companies to join this year’s list include Improbable, Deliveroo and Purple Bricks.
Manish Madhvani, CEO and founder of GP Bullhound added: “London’s digital economy has demonstrated unprecedented levels of talent, ambition, and investment, delivering an exceptional cohort of billion-dollar businesses.
“These pioneers have been critical to the rise of European tech and will drive the industry forward to create companies of scale to rival the US and Asia.”