The Investment Activator Programme supports investment activity across the region, we have pulled together some useful statistics and information to help you understand all the great things that are happening here. Scroll down to explore the companies making waves in the region and the sectors that are leading the way.
For a downloadable version you can check out our 2021 Annual Report on SW Equity Investment, and our Mid-Year Update for 2022.
The South West region has been on a broadly upward trajectory for the last 10 years and 2021 stood head and shoulders above the rest, nearly trebling the amount raised in 2020 and culminating in almost £500m raised in the final quarter of the year.
In total 2021 saw 334 companies raise £1.14bn in 379 fundraising events according to our data partners Beauhurst. Whilst these investments cover a huge number of sectors, there are several key sectors that stand out as strengths within the South West, whether due to the size and success of companies that have already settled here or due to the amount of support available in the region attracting more activity in these areas. Standout sectors include:
The term DeepTech covers any technology not focussed on end-user services, including AI, Quantum Technologies, Robotics and Biotech. Over the past few years, we’ve seen strengths within the South West across all these areas.
AI: Very notably, Graphcore has raised £162m in equity investment in January 2021 for their AI infrastructure tools, to top up the £116m they received in 2020.
Quantum: The University of Bristol is a centre of excellence in Quantum Technologies. Since 2016, 31 new companies have been created and over £60 million has been dedicated to developing the industry in the region.
Aerospace : Long a haven for aerospace technology, with Airbus and indeed 14 of the 15 world-leading aerospace companies based here, Vertical Aerospace have raised £214m in 2021 to further develop their electric aviation for urban air travel, proving that this sector is as active as ever.
Robotics : Bristol Robotics lab has fostered some fabulous robotics startups over the last few years, including the incredibly impressive Open Bionics. Reach Industries and Perceptual Robotics are also ones to watch.
Biotech: In 2018 University of Bristol spinout Ziylo was acquired for around £630m, and its founder Harry Destecroix has since set up the Science Creates VC fund as well as 2 Bristol based deeptech incubators.
There are several incubators and accelerators in the region with a focus on DeepTech, including the Science Creates ones, Future Space, SETsquared Bristol, the Bristol Robotics Lab, and the National Composites Centre so plenty of support for those startups to grow.
Cyber Security is a sector that has flourished across the UK in 2020 due to the increased amount of remote working and changes in working practises. However, even prior to 2020 Cyber was a focus of the region.
Cheltenham is the home of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, attracting specialist talent to the region. A Cyber Security Operations Centre was set up in 2016 in Corsham to protect the Ministry of Defence’s cyberspace, and various startups and communities have sprung up over the past few years including Immersive Labs which has attracted £92m of equity investment, and Bristol & Bath Cyber which has been set up to bring together people of various backgrounds into Cyber.
Companies to watch include KETS Quantum Security, and of course potential future unicorn Immersive Labs.
The region is home to tech centres for large corporates such as Lloyds, Nationwide and Hargreaves Lansdown and several crowdfunding platforms including the equity platform Crowdcube.
Local scale-up Brightpearl was recently acquired by Sage in a £225m deal and recently the South West has seen a plethora of fintech startups emerge. Companies to watch in this sector in 2022 include Moneyhub, Seccl, Loqbox, Tumelo and Roqqet.
As home to Aardman Animations, the BBC Natural History Unit and Channel 4, the region has attracted some serious players, however, there is also much support available for early-stage creative companies in the West of England.
The Pervasive Media Studio, The Studio in Bath and the Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications all attract an international influx of early-stage companies.
Of the creative companies emerging from the region, Ultraleap, Virti, Condense Reality and Motion Impossible are standouts of recent years.
139 companies raised equity funding in 2017 with several deeptech and hardware businesses raising significant amounts. BluWireless raised £17.9m for their 5G mmWave wireless technology, Graphcore raised $80m towards the development of their Machine Learning processors and Xmos raised $15.4m for their development of audio and voice processors.
2018 saw over 141 companies raise money in the West of England. This included a significant number raising between £2-5m including MoveGB, MoneyHub, TravelLocal, Micrima and Boxarr. Notably biotech start up Ziylo was also acquired by Danis Pharmaceutical Company Novo Nordisk in a deal of $800m.
2019 was a big year for the West of England investment scene with two of its better known businesses (Grapchore & Ovo Energy) becoming the first ‘Unicorns’ in the area. Additionally Ultra Haptics acquired with West Coast startup Leap Motion to form Ultraleap and over 100 other businesses raised investment.
Despite the impact of COVID-19 last year was a strong year for investment with significant amounts raised by Graphcore ($222M) & Brightpearl (£33m) amongst others. New funds landed in the form of the £15m Science Creates EIS Fund focussed on deeptech startups and £10m coinvestment fund from Newable to sit alongside Bristol Private Equity Club’s angel investments.
A testament to the strength of the region, 2021 saw a huge rebound from the disruption of COVID-19, with record investment of £1.14 billion going to well over 300 companies. Key investments included Vertical Aerospace (£214 million), Netomnia (£162 million), Ultraleap (£60 million) and Huboo (£60 million).
We’ve looked back over the last 5 years of investments in the region and we’ve pulled out the companies that have raised the most money during this time.
There are a number of other brilliant businesses that have raised over the past year or so, we’ve highlighted some of them here.
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