Bristol named among 海角视频鈥檚 top tech hubs with number of 'unicorn' firms expected to double

Government research has found huge growth in venture capital investment and jobs in the city鈥檚 burgeoning sector

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00:01, 20 DEC 2021

An aerial view of Bristol city centre (Image: Getty Images)

Bristol has been named one of the 海角视频鈥檚 fastest-growing tech hubs after firms in the city attracted more than 拢100m in venture capital funding this year.

Research for the Government鈥檚 Digital Economy Council has ranked Bristol in the top five of a 鈥楾ech Power League鈥� table of cities, behind Cambridge, Manchester, Oxford and Edinburgh.

The analysis found that Bristol had more than 3,000 tech job opportunities, a more than 50% rise since November 2020, and some of the highest outside of London, with an average advertised salary of 拢50,404.

The number of 鈥榰nicorn鈥� companies worth over $1bn in Bristol鈥檚 burgeoning tech sector was predicted to double to six over the coming years.

The report said that fast-growing ecommerce fulfilment firm Huboo, 3D bionic 鈥榟ero arm鈥� manufacturer Open Bionics and touchless technology firm Ultraleap were expected to reach the valuation.

Vertical Aerospace, which is developing a 鈥榝lying taxi鈥� and has begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange after completing a business combination deal with US special acquisition firm Broadstone, became a 鈥榰nicorn鈥� earlier this year.

Vertical Aerospace is based in Bristol and is developing an all-electric 'flying taxi' (Image: Vertical Aerospace)

It joined its chief executive Stephen Fitzpatrick鈥檚 other venture OVO Energy and AI chip maker Graphcore as the other Bristol tech firms to achieve the status.

It comes as 海角视频 tech firms raised a record 拢26bn in 2021 - more than double last year鈥檚 figure of 拢11.5bn.

Firms in the 海角视频鈥檚 regional cities accounted for a larger proportion of the national total, with around 拢9bn of funding being awarded to start-ups and scale-ups outside of London.

Nigel Toon, co-founder and chief executive at Graphcore, based in Bristol, said: 鈥淭here is no longer any debate over whether you can build a multi-billion dollar tech business in the 海角视频.

鈥淭he investments made over the past few years into start-ups and scale-ups across the country are producing outstanding results and I look forward to seeing how ecosystems like Bristol鈥檚 grow and thrive over many years to come.鈥�

Nigel Toon is the founder of Bristol-based Graphcore (Image: Barclays)

The majority of investment into 海角视频 tech came from the US, up to 38% from 31.5% last year, with most of the money going into fintech and health tech companies. Some 28% of funding came from domestic capital.

Digital minister Chris Philp said: "It's been another record-breaking year for 海角视频 tech with innovative British start-ups helping solve some of the world's biggest challenges.

"Capitalising on this fantastic investment across the country is a crucial part of our mission to level up, so we are supporting businesses with pro-innovation policies and helping people to get the skills they need to thrive in this dynamic industry."