UK tech sector shows resilience by retaining #1 spot in Europe in 2022

The UK’s thriving technology sector ended 2022 on a high by retaining its position as number one in Europe, recently revealed data shows.

In 2022, the UK tech sector continued to attract significant investment, with fast-growing companies raising £24 billion last year – more than both France (£11.8 billion) and Germany (£9.1 billion) combined. This reality means such companies have now raised nearly £100 billion over the past five years.

According to the figures from Dealroom for the Digital Economy Council, the UK tech sector boasts 144 unicorns (privately-owned companies worth $1 billion or more) and 237 futurecorns (companies that are on track to become unicorns), as well as over 85,000 startups and scale-ups. Furthermore, the UK’s tech ecosystem employs three million people across the country.

What’s particularly positive is the UK tech sector’s regional strength, with eight cities now home to two or more unicorns, including Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford. These cities boast 112 unicorns between them, more than France (36) and Germany (63) combined.

Consistent growth and continued investment saw the UK tech sector reach the $1 trillion in value milestone in 2022, the only country other than the US and China to achieve such value.

Speaking about the figures, Minister for Tech and Digital Economy, Paul Scully, said: “UK tech has remained resilient in the face of global challenges and we have ended the year as one of the world’s leading destinations for digital businesses. This is good news and reflects our pro-innovation approach to tech regulation, continuing support for start-ups and ambition to boost people’s digital skills.”

As mentioned and as we’ve reported before, Cambridge is an important tech hub, having been named the UK’s top regional tech city in December 2021.

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Image credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay