The U.K. is the leading tech ecosystem in Europe and now the third country in the world to have its tech sector valued at $1 trillion, along with the U.S. and China.
Leading the charge in building world-class companies across artificial intelligence (AI), fintech and biotech with a global outlook, the U.K. has earned the moniker of “Unicorn Kingdom” — it boasts more unicorns than Germany, France and Sweden combined, including household names such as Revolut, Darktrace and Graphcore.
In this video presented by GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland, you’ll hear from those that know why the U.K. has become a global leader in the development and scaling of tech companies. And how the U.K.’s expanding tech landscape — combined with world-leading research and development (R&D) and talent pool — make it a great place to invest.
The U.K.’s ability to scale startup companies has captured increased interest of venture capitalists (VCs) abroad, specifically on the West Coast, U.S. Dharmesh Thakker, general partner with Battery Ventures — a Series C investor of Matillion — offers a West Coast VC perspective on how the U.K. offers global growth of which U.S. investors should take notice: “You’re seeing some very high-quality companies surface in the U.K., and now the world is paying attention to it.
“It’s kind of an upward spiral where success breeds success and creates a nice local ecosystem, and that can’t be said about other regions in Europe. You don’t see such a vibrant ecosystem of startups, and VCs in Munich or Paris or Dublin, for sure. I think U.K. kind of stands out from that perspective.”
Matthew Scullion, CEO and founder of U.K.-based Matillion agrees that the U.K. is ripe for investment at this moment: “In the U.K., we really have all the ingredients required for building consequential companies. We have brilliant grassroots engineering skills from our very strong university ecosystem. We have skills, we have capital, and we have a great environment for starting and building businesses.”
With world-class talent, a vibrant startup ecosystem and a focus on global growth, the U.K. is primed as a desirable destination for tech founders and investors alike.