British startups have raised more than US$30bn so far this year, as money continues to flood into private technology companies.
The funds raised so far in 2021 are more than double the amount of capital raised in the whole of 2020, according to data provider Dealroom.
The UK has outperformed France and Germany and is now third behind the US and China in funding for startups.
The growth in the UK startup scene is attributed to a large part to the large amount of capital available for funding that is linked to the trend to de-equitisation, where many growth companies are shunning public stock markets in their earlier and faster-growing years.
READ: How de-equitisation could be both a good and bad thing for investors
In the last decade, the number of British tech ‘unicorns’, the term used for private companies valued at US$1bn or more, has increased tenfold.
Among the UK start-ups raising funds this year, the banking app Revolut is the most valuable. It raised US$800mln in the summer and is valued at US$33bn, according to Dealroom.
Financial tech start-ups have seen the biggest flow of money from investors, with over 300 companies raising US$11.2bn since the beginning of 2021, compared with US$5bn last year. Prodigy Finance, which provides loans to fund post-graduate degrees, raised US$750mln in September.
Meanwhile, healthcare technology startups have raised US$5.6bn, compared with US$2.5bn in 2020, while private enterprise software businesses have raised US$3.5bn.
