The UK witnessed a total of 1,260 venture capital (VC) funding deals during 2023, with the corresponding disclosed funding value estimated to have reached $14.2bn (£11.2bn).

According to figures published by data and analytics provider GlobalData, this represents declines of 28.4% and 39.4%, respectively, compared to the VC deal volume and value in 2022.

GlobalData’s figures showed that a total of 1,759 VC deals with disclosed funding value of $23.4bn ($18.4bn) were announced in the UK during 2022.

It took nine months for the UK to surpass the $10bn mark in 2023, although it took only four months to hit the same level in the previous year.

Lead analyst at GlobalData, Aurojyoti Bose, said that the subdued activity, which was “more of a global phenomenon” in 2023, impacted most of the key markets including the UK.

“The dent in investor sentiments due to macroeconomic challenges, volatile market conditions and the prevailing geopolitical tensions significantly impacted VC funding activity globally,” Bose said.

Despite the fall in activity, the UK has continued to dominate in Europe and remains among the top five markets for VC funding activity in terms of both deal volume and value.

The UK market accounted for 6.5% of the total number of VC funding deals announced globally last year, while its share of the corresponding disclosed deal value stood at 6.1%.

Some of the notable funding deals announced in the UK in 2023 include $623m (£491.1m) worth of funding raised by Conigital, $602m (£474.5m) of funding raised by Abound, $367.7m (£289.8m) raised by Spendology, $306.5m (£241.6m) raised by SumUp, $250m (£197.1m) raised by EToro, and $250m (£197.1m) worth of funding raised by Builder.ai.

---