Major Investment Surge in UK Tech - Mobile, Software Dominate, Bio-Tech is Back

NEW YORK, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

In a new study,  Sisense  analyses ten years of CrunchBase data on  UK tech startup investments, with findings underpinning increased confidence in the sector during 2014:

• Total investments in UK tech startups grew by 140% in 2014 compared to 2013 and 270% (vs 2009) percent over the past five years

• On average, UK startups raised more Series C and D funding than startups from any other country globally in 2014 for those same rounds, including the US

• The greatest number of investments in 2014 were in software, with mobile attracting the most funding and the return of bio-tech as a key UK sector

• London, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Dublin startups attracted the most investment

• UK startups attract Series A funding faster than those in the US, averaging around 6 months. In comparison, startups based Stateside usually take 18 months to raise Series A.

The analysis by Sisense, whose Business Intelligence analytics and dashboard technology make Big Data analytics easily accessible, reveals that while Series A and Series B rounds tend to be weaker in the UK, the median Series C and D rounds is stronger than anywhere else around the world.

The study analyzes ten years of startup data on 12,000 UK companies against data on approximately 300,000 companies in the CrunchBase database. Investors and entrepreneurs can access the interactive dashboard here: http://www.sisense.com/dashboards/uk-startups/

"Our analysis indicates the rise in, and assurance of both the UK market and the overall European tech scene," says Adi Azaria, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist of Sisense. "Until now, there was much talk and buzz about a resurgence. In just a few minutes, our dashboard provides the evidence to support this, along with the details on where and how much."

The analysis shows the UK tech scene has gained a significant growth in investments during 2014 totaling $6.7B/£4.4B, compared to $2.7B/£1.76B in 2013. While nearly 80% of the funding was directed towards early stage startups, the UK's more mature tech companies attracted larger investments than companies elsewhere worldwide, signifying their viability and greater likelihood of success.

The report identifies software, mobile and biotech as the leading UK tech categories. Whilst more software companies received funding than any other category, mobile incurred a 465% year-on-year growth to £650M/$900M. Following a downturn over the last three years, the UK's biotech sector experienced a resurgence in funding during 2014, with the highest median raise (87%) of investment per company at £3M/$4.7M. Interestingly, educational tech companies are garnering attention, incurring 140% investment growth from 2013, totalling £337M/$500M invested in nearly 40 companies.

London's tech scene generated nearly two thirds of total tech investment, securing £2.9bn/$4.5bn from more than 460 companies. Cambridge startups raised the second largest amount, of funding, totaling £135M/$209M across 34 companies in biotech, software, manufacturing and mobile. Edinburgh's 21 startups secured just over £50M/$79.9M and the 72 startups based Dublin attracted £200M/$310M.

About Sisense  

Sisense enables non-technical business users to easily join, analyze and visualize growing data sets from a multitude of structured and unstructured data sources. Powered by its unique In-Chip™ and Elasticube™ technologies - Sisense delivers unmatched performance, agility & value. Sisense was recently designated a hot company to watch by CIO, CRN and Information Management and recognized as a "Cool Vendor" by Gartner. Its solution won the "Audience Choice" award at the O'Reilly Strata conference and its CTO Eldad Farkash won the World Technology Award for the invention of In-Chip analytics.

Media kit: http://www.sisense.com/sisense-media-kit/

Media contact
Leron Kornreich
+1-415-9371724
leron@sisense.com

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