VC funding in the UK reached a record high of £4.3bn in the first half of 2019, a 45 per cent increase on the same period last year.
That is the headline figure from a new report by flexible workplace platform Workthere.
The firm reports that the size for UK VC investment doubled to £5.9m in the same period, with 724 deals recorded compared to 1,147 in H1 2018.
The report said that tech sector is the ‘clear winner’ for VCs, attracting 60 per cent of all funding in H1 2019, compared to 44 per cent in the same period last year.
London saw a significant rise of 81 per cent, with other key UK regions including Bristol, Edinburgh and Cambridge also seeing an increase of 97 per cent, 41 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.
“[The] sub-sector that is really driving growth is Fintech, which has accounted for eight out of the top ten funding deals so far this year, compared to just three last year,” the firm wrote in its report.
“Moving forward, this is definitely an interesting sub-sector to watch in terms of expansion outside of their primary London offices into wider UK markets.”
Areas attracting VC investment include the hotbed of London, but the report notes a growing interest in regions where there is a strong university presence linking to new talent and strong inward investment and development.
Workthere notes that VC investment in the UK has outpaced flexible office take up this year, but that exceptions in London, Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh and Cambridge, see a “distinctive link between the two figures.”