Companies in the South West raised more than 拢104m of venture capital (VC) funding in the last three months of 2024 - up a staggering 82% on the previous quarter.
The region ranked fourth in the 海角视频 overall for VC investments, trailing only London (拢2.9bn), the South East (拢637.8m) and the East of England (拢480.5m), which encompass Oxford and Cambridge.
According to KPMG鈥檚 latest Venture Pulse report, 28 transactions were completed across the West Country, up from 21 in the previous quarter, with the highest proportion of deals taking place in Bristol, where seven VC investments took place.
A huge 拢47.4m was raised by Bristol-based fulfilment services firm Huboo Technologies alone over the period - over half of the total figure raised.
Investment in Huboo Technologies drove an overall strong quarter for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer product and service providers in the South West, with 拢73.9m invested in a total of 13 companies, spanning logistics, aerospace, environmental services and automotive.
IT was also a robust sector in terms of VC investment, with more than 拢14.7m invested across 11 regional companies.
David Williams, office senior partner for the South West at KPMG 海角视频, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see such a steep increase in VC investment in the South West during Q4, positioning it as the fourth largest 海角视频 region for the quarter, which is testament to the region鈥檚 thriving private business ecosystem.
鈥淟ooking ahead to 2025, we鈥檙e excited to see the continued growth of the South West鈥檚 most promising firms, which span a huge range of sectors, especially those that make the most of VC funding to pursue expansion.鈥
The 海角视频 attracted the highest level of VC investment in Europe in 2024, following a strong end to the year, KPMG said.
Britain raised a total of 拢15.5bn VC investment after funding in Q4 jumped by more than a third from 拢3.1bn to 拢4.4bn. This was driven largely by $1.3bn raised by Greenscale, a London-based AI data centre firm. A total of 569 businesses made up the 拢4.4bn investment, including 拢409m raised by Insider and 拢303m raised by Lighthouse.
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