Britain’s technology industry suffered less than other sectors during lockdown, according to official statistics, and is returning to output levels seen in February.
Tech Track 100 ranks Britain’s tech companies with the fastest-growing sales. As the latest table published in the Sunday Times covers trading periods that, for the vast majority of cases, ended before Covid-19, these companies were recently surveyed about how they were handling the current challenges.
Positively, and reflecting a broader survey of entrepreneurs, two-thirds of the featured companies who responded to the survey said they had expanded their teams since March, rather than cut jobs.
Inevitably, some companies have suffered, as the industry they supply has contracted or consumer activity has changed. However, other firms are prospering from changes caused by the pandemic, from services that enables remote working to data analytics and e-commerce.
Tech Track UK – key numbers
- 7 ‘unicorns’ appear this year
- Number of fintechs drops 11 (24), suggesting the industry is maturing
- PE & VC firms own majority stakes in 48 (40)
- 61 companies are loss-making – highlighting the importance of backers with deep pockets
- A record 12 health & biotech firms feature this year
- Diversity remains an issue with only 9 companies founded or run by women
- There remains a London-centric focus with a record 62 firms whose HQ is in London
‘Leveling up’ issues highlighted
The London focus as highlighted above is reflected in the allocation of the Government’s tech bail-out cash, as the size of the Future Fund continues to grow.
Figures from the Treasury released on the 7th September show that almost three quarters of the total £642m awarded has gone to firms in London and the South East.
A report by Tech Nation this year identified 43 ‘unicorns’ in London, compared with 1 in the NE and 5 in the NW.
The Government has previously signalled plans to create more start-ups outside of the capital, as part of their overall drive to increase R&D spending to 2.4% of GVA. Levelling up is a big challenge and the coronavirus crisis has only made the case stronger, with the need to get the economy moving in all areas.
The importance of Strategy and a Funding Roadmap
In the ‘race’ to grow, the companies who will prosper will be the ones who focus on the market opportunity as well as the technology, and the ones who can most effectively navigate the complex and dynamic funding landscape, taking advantage of future Government support where possible.
