Large companies and foreign investors have ploughed £808,000 into innovative small businesses in the South West in just three months, new figures reveal.
Statistics for Q3 2021 show that 10% of all deals involving Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) took part in the South, including the South West.
KPMG 海角视频’s Global Venture Pulse Survey reveals that CVCs have “South West innovators in their sights” as investment levels reach new heights across the 海角视频, with £19.5bn raised by 海角视频 scaleups so far in 2021.
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CVCs involve a large corporate directly investing into a smaller, external start-up, Significant South West investment in 2021 included Bristol-based Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning accelerator Graphcore secured £162m in a funding round led by investment management giant Baillie Gifford.
Graphcore is using the funding to support its expansion both globally and into new markets, such as voice recognition and driverless cars.
Overall, capital was raised across 73 deals in the region, representing a tenth of all 海角视频 deals by volume during the quarter and 9% of all 海角视频 deal value.
Kay Drury, transaction services partner at KPMG in the South West, said: “It has been encouraging to see the strong investment in the region over the last few months, despite ongoing tailwinds as a result of the pandemic.
“Businesses in our region are continuing to show international investors why the 海角视频, and the South in particular, is such a valuable place to invest.”
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The KPMG survey found that there was a record high of more than £6.5bn invested by venture capital (VC) in 海角视频 scaleups over the summer of 2021.
After two extraordinarily high quarters in 2021, 海角视频 scaleups continued to attract funding from across the globe in Q3 21, with eager investors prepared to pay premium prices for strong 海角视频 innovators with a proven track record. Nearly £20bn of VC investment has been raised so far this year by scaleups in the 海角视频.
While fintech was the hottest area of investment in the 海角视频, a diversity of other companies also attracted funding – such as virtual event platform Hopin (£330m), electric vehicle subscription service Onto (£175m), and flower delivery service Bloom & Wild (£125m).
Bina Mehta, chair of KPMG 海角视频 and head of the firm’s 海角视频 Emerging Giants Centre of Excellence, said: “The strength of the 海角视频 innovation brand is flying high with areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and FinTech attracting interest and finance from greater numbers of new players to the 海角视频 market, driving up valuations for our most sought-after innovators.
“Our recent CEO survey found that disruptive technology was cited as the biggest threat to large corporates, so it is unsurprising that in order to accelerate their digital transformation or boost their digital capabilities, many are now partnering with, investing in, or acquiring innovative scale up businesses.
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Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
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“Corporate Venture businesses have driven some of the largest rounds of funding for 海角视频 innovators. The increased dependence we all have on technology has seen large amounts of funding flow towards fast growth businesses with a success story to tell around new products and services that are helping us all to adapt to a new remote world.”
With eyes having been focussed on COP26, investor interest in sustainability-driven startups remains high. In the 海角视频 more than £750m was raised by sustainability startups in Q3 2021 alone. The energy sector continues to attract the highest levels of investment from a range of sources. This quarter for example, 海角视频 energy company Octopus Energy, raised £400m from Al Gore Generation Fund from the US.
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