The UK has seen a year-on-year decline in venture capital (VC) funding deals in the first quarter of 2024, new figures published by GlobalData have indicated.

A total of 281 VC deals worth $2.7bn (£2.2bn) were announced during Q1, reflecting falls of 21.7% in terms of volume, and 31.2% in funding value.

According to GlobalData’s deals database, a total of 359 VC funding deals were announced in the UK during Q1 2023 while the disclosed funding value of these deals stood at $4bn (£3.2bn).

The data and analytics company suggested that despite the recent fall in activity in the opening quarter, March had shown “improvement” in deal value.

Lead analyst at GlobalData, Aurojyoti Bose, commented: “The dent in investor sentiment can be understood from the fact that the average size of VC funding deals fell from $11.1m (£8.9m) in Q1 2023 to $9.7m (£7.8m) in Q1 2024.

“However, despite this decline, we can see some bright spots, particularly in March when there was an improvement in deal value despite month-on-month decline in deal volume.”

GlobalData’s figures revealed that the UK accounted for 6.9% share of the total number of VC deals announced globally during Q1, while its share of the corresponding funding value stood at 4.8% during the quarter.

Some of the notable VC funding deals announced in the UK during Q1 include the $430m (£345.3m) raised by Monzo, $112m (£90m) raised by Exohood Labs, $110m (£88.4m) raised by Build A Rocket Boy, and $100m (£80.3m) raised by Oxford Quantum Circuits.

Bose added: “The UK, apart from being the top European market for VC funding activity, also continues to be a key global market. It ranked among the top markets globally both in terms of VC funding deal volume and value during Q1 2024.”

---