The UK joined the US and China as the only nations to have more than 100 privately held companies that have achieved ‘ unicorn’ status by being valued at more than $1bn, according to new data from Dealroom and Tech Nation.
Of these 100 firms, just over a third – 34 – are fintech companies.
Tractable, an AI startup building computer vision tools, was the 100th firm when it raised a $60m Series D round last week.
Number of tech unicorns in the UK, France and Germany (2000-2021)
So far in 2021, 13 UK tech unicorns have already been created, compared to 7 in the whole of 2020.
Collectively, the UK’s 100 tech unicorns have raised almost $32bn (€28.9bn) in VC investment
These high levels of tech unicorn creation reflect the continued strength of the UK tech sector, which reached record highs in the first half of this year. UK tech startups have raised €13.2bn ($14.5bn) since the start of the year, beating the previous record of €8.1B ($8.9bn) (H2 2020), with two weeks still left to go.
VC investment in UK tech companies by stage of investment (2011-2021)
Gerard Grech, Chief Executive, Tech Nation, said: “With UK tech unicorn creation growing by 127 per cent over the last 3 years, it’s clear that the UK tech sector has become a rapidly growing hub for unicorns, culminating in 100 companies with unicorn status today.”
In contrast to the UK milestone, Germany has 42 unicorns, France 22 and the Netherlands 18. Less than the UK combined.
