UK tech firms point way to a prosperous new year

The year 2025 is likely to go down as a difficult 12 months for Britain but gloom about the wider economy is overdone.

- Saul Klein

The UK’s tech sector, for example, has a lot to celebrate. So far this year, the UK has outpaced France, Germany and Switzerland to take a greater share of startup venture capital funding at $21bn than any other country in Europe.

The UK is sitting on an underpriced long-term asset that few countries possess: its innovation economy. Across nearly every innovation metric, the UK now ranks third globally, despite being only the sixth largest economy by GDP. The UK has more unicorns (companies valued at over $1bn), as well as “colts and thoroughbreds”, than France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands combined, according to new data from Dealroom. These are businesses that are already contributing economically, creating jobs and growing our GDP.

The UK is home to 240 thoroughbreds, roughly 30% of Europe’s leading tech companies. These companies have an enterprise value of $601bn (£452bn).

Looking to the future, the UK also has 50 deep-tech champions tackling the capital-intensive, science-heavy sectors including fusion, quantum computing and energy resilience. Deep-tech investment is now 31% of UK VC, triple its share a decade ago.