Bristol has been named one of the UK’s fastest growing tech cities following what was a record year for the sector in Britain in 2021. The city has been ranked fifth for regional UK tech growth in the Digital Economy Council’s new ‘Levelling Up Tech Power League’ report.
Tech firms received £26 billion in venture capital (VC) funding nationwide, with £111 million raised collectively by Bristol companies. Of this figure SETsquared Bristol alumnus, Ultraleap, raised £60 million alone to further develop and commercialise its revolutionary hand tracking and mid-air haptics technologies.
Ultraleap are earmarked to join Graphcore, OVO Energy and Vertical Aerospace in becoming one of the city’s next unicorns, startups worth more than $1bn, with the number of Bristol unicorns predicted to double to six in the next few years.
Nigel Toon, Co-founder and CEO at Graphcore commented on the research:
“There is no longer any debate over whether you can build a multi-billion dollar tech business in the UK. The investments made over the past few years into startups and scaleups across the country are producing outstanding results and I look forward to seeing how ecosystems like Bristol’s grow and thrive over many years to come.”
Startup innovation and job opportunities have helped secure Bristol’s reputation as one of the UK’s top tech hubs. According to the analysis, Bristol has over 3,000 technical job opportunities with an average salary of £50,404 – the highest outside London.
UK tech investment accounted for a third of the total £89.5 billion that flowed into the European tech ecosystem last year, which means more investment into regional areas, more job opportunities and more ‘futurecorns.
About Engine Shed
Engine Shed is a partner in the Investment Activator Programme which is designed to support companies that are raising equity investment in the South West. Through this work we hope to increase the flow of capital into the region by putting the spotlight on the great companies that are here and bringing investors together to network, share and learn.
The IAP started as a 2-year pilot programme in January 2020, kindly supported by both public and private sector organisations.
For more information: https://engine-shed.co.uk/projects/investment-activator/