Venture capital investment in the north grew 37 per cent in 2019, ‘big four’ accountancy firm KPMG has said.
According to KPMG’s latest Venture Pulse report, northern businesses received £343.5m worth of investment across 157 deals last year, up from £249.5m in 2018.
The firm said “anecdotally” it has also noticed an “uptick” in activity this year.
Lizzie Smith of KPMG Private Enterprise said: “These figures represent a strong year for the north’s start- and scale-ups despite the political uncertainties that dominated the business agenda in 2019.
“The impact of that was clearly felt in the latter half of the year as both Brexit and general election deadlines neared.
“However, it’s clear looking at the wider picture that investors remained confident in closing deals despite political uncertainty.”
The firm said the last quarter of 2019 was “particularly active” for the North West, with five deals worth £1.1m, including investments for BlackDice, Shopblocks and Football4Football.
Meanwhile, investment in Yorkshire and the North East reached £14.5m across 15 deals, including Dell Technologies Capital’s backing of Newcastle firm IoTech Systems and a £3m investment deal for Sheffield education platform Tutorful.
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The north's venture capital market “outpaced” the national average, which grew by 22 per cent to £9bn in 2019.
Some 1,648 completed venture capital investments were recorded in the 海角视频 during 2019.
Nearly £2bn was invested in scale-up businesses in the last three months of 2019, slightly down on the amount invested in the summer, KPMG said.
Investments in later-stage businesses, particularly in the financial services, biotech and healthcare sectors, drove the vast majority of deals, the firm said.
Ms Smith said: “Our scale-up businesses have had a fantastic year and continue to fly the flag for British innovation, attracting investment from all over the world as VC investors focus on later stage companies in sectors in which the 海角视频 is seen as world leading.
“There was, however, a continued decline in early and seed-stage deals.”
She continued: “Access to funding is a foundation for growth, and domestic innovation could be impacted if our next wave of entrepreneurs fail to attract the capital they need to grow now.
“At best, it will slow their growth; at worst, it will make them uncompetitive on a global stage, leading them to relocate or become unsustainable.”