UK is the leading European tech ecosystem as investors pile in

Published

2 years ago

December 21, 2022

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While there has been much anxiety over the competitive position of the City this year – with Amsterdam overtaking London as Europe’s biggest centre for share trading and the value of the French stock market overtaking that of the UK – fresh data suggests the UK’s tech sector continues to enjoy a significant lead over its European counterparts.

Figures prepared by the data and intelligence platform Dealroom for the Digital Economy Council suggest that fast-growing UK tech companies raised £24bn this year – more than their counterparts in France and Germany combined.

It takes the total raised by UK tech companies during the last five years to £97bn.

The numbers are all the more striking because, for much of the year, capital has become harder to come by as interest rates have risen and investors around the world have become more sceptical about the tech sector.

Dealroom’s figures suggest that the UK’s tech industry now enjoys a value of $1trn – making it only the third country, after the United States and China, to achieve this milestone and confirming it as the leading European tech ecosystem.

Germany’s tech sector is now valued at $467.2bn while that of France is worth $307.5bn.

Not only is the UK’s tech sector attracting more venture capital than its European counterparts, according to the figures, it is also creating more value for investors.

The figures suggest that, since the beginning of the century, the UK has created 144 ‘unicorns’ – start-ups that have gone on to achieve a valuation of more than $1bn – and 237 so-called ‘futurecorns’, companies which are valued at north of $250m and which are deemed to be on track to achieve unicorn status.

This is up from 116 unicorns and 204 futurecorns this time last year.

Paul Scully, the digital minister, said: “UK tech has remained resilient in the face of global challenges and we have ended the year as one of the world’s leading destinations for digital businesses.

“This is good news and reflects our pro-innovation approach to tech regulation, continuing support for start-ups and ambition to boost people’s digital skills.”

The figures underline the UK’s growing attraction to international venture capital firms.

This year has seen some of the biggest US tech investors, including General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed – all of which opened offices in the UK last year – bulk up their presence by taking on more staff.

They have been joined in the UK this year by New Enterprise Associates, the 45-year-old US venture capital firm that has backed the likes of TikTok owner ByteDance and by Earlybird, the Berlin-based venture capital firm.

UK-based funds have raised £9.2bn this year – just ahead of the £9bn they raised in 2021 – with which to back fast-growing companies and start-ups.

Chris Bischoff, managing director at General Catalyst, said: “We established a presence in London as we believed the UK is a stand-out ecosystem globally. Our experience over the last 18 months has enhanced our appreciation for this remarkable ecosystem, enabling us to find and support early stage companies that are working toward accelerating change in their industries.

“As importantly, our values of responsible innovation and radical collaboration are perfectly in tune with the UK’s approach to innovation.”

The Dealroom figures also suggest that tech innovation is being spread across the UK.

There are now eight cities – Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford – which are home to two or more unicorns.

Some of these are seen as now challenging the dominance of leading US tech ecosystems in specific disciplines: Cambridge was recently named as the world’s third most important science hub behind only the Bay Area of San Francisco and Boston in Massachusetts. Oxford was fifth on the list.

The University of Cambridge also recently topped the global rankings for producing the highest number of successful tech founders, with more than 500 of its alumni having raised at least $10m in funding.

The universities of Oxford, Bristol, Nottingham and London all featured in the top 20 globally alongside leading US establishments such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Amid a tight labour market, with more than three million people now working in UK tech, the sector is increasingly taking on people at entry level. The job search engine Adzuna reports that, in November, there were more than 15,000 entry-level tech roles – up from 6,596 in November last year.

This has led to the emergence of a number of so-called ‘edtech’ start-ups dedicated to equipping people with skills, such as coding and cyber security, needed to build a successful career in tech. They include Multiverse, the UK’s first edtech unicorn, which was founded by Euan Blair, son of Sir Tony Blair, the former prime minister.

Some of these, such as Code First Girls, are specifically aimed at increasing the number of women working in the tech sector.

Anna Brailsford, the chief executive of Code First Girls, said: “From using AI to tackle healthcare inequality to designing and building space missions, every day there are incredible tech businesses being launched and scaled in the UK.

“Yet too few women have the opportunity to work for these impactful start-ups because they have not previously been given the encouragement to look at a career in tech or learn key skills.

“We’re aiming to train 26,000 women in the UK over the next five years and place them in tech roles so they can use their knowledge and expertise to change this industry for the better.”

UK

‘I think you’re looking for us’: Video shows moment Sara Sharif’s family detained on plane

Published

29 mins ago

November 1, 2024

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'I think you're looking for us': Video shows moment Sara Sharif's family detained on plane

Footage of the moment 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s alleged killers were detained after police boarded their plane back to the UK has been played in court.

As they are approached by officers, Sara‘s stepmother Beinash Batool is heard saying: “I think you’re looking for us.”

Batool, 30, Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death at her family home in Surrey on 8 August last year.

The defendants, along with five of Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13, flew to Pakistan the following day.

Sara’s body was found by police in a bunkbed on 10 August after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”.

A murder investigation was launched involving agencies including Interpol and the National Crime Agency to locate the defendants.

They returned to the UK on a flight from Dubai to Gatwick Airport on 13 September.

The clips of officers’ body-worn video shown to the jury on Friday captured the moment police boarded the plane and detained the defendants at 7.42pm, seven minutes after touchdown.

After Batool addresses the officers, Sharif, who had been sitting next to her, is asked to follow them.

The three were then taken off the plane and arrested.

A post-mortem examination established Sara had sustained extensive and significant injuries over a sustained period prior to her death.

The jury heard on Friday how concerns were raised by Sara’s school about bruising on her body in June 2022 and March 2023.

Several items seized from Sara’s home were also reviewed by the court, including a leather belt which had full DNA samples at both ends for Sara, Sharif, and Malik.

A cricket bat was also found to have Sara’s DNA profile on it, along with the DNA samples of Sharif and Malik.

Neither item had a DNA trace of Batool.

The court also reviewed the defendants’ bank accounts – both joint and separate.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

UK

Girl, 13, ‘critical’ after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle – as six teenagers arrested

Published

29 mins ago

November 1, 2024

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Girl, 13, 'critical' after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle - as six teenagers arrested

Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.

Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.

Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.

Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.

Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.

“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.

The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.

Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.

Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.

UK

Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a ‘foolish idea’ to have someone with his ‘skillset’ in prison

Published

3 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a 'foolish idea' to have someone with his 'skillset' in prison

A former soldier has told a jury his escape from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders and terrorists showed his “skillset”.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who was being held accused of passing secrets to Iran said he was “never a real spy” but planned a fake defection to the state following his arrest after watching American television show Homeland.

He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was getting unwanted attention from the sex offenders on the vulnerable prisoners wing and feared a move to Belmarsh prison because, as a British soldier, terrorists wanted to kill him.

Khalife said he first wanted to “make a show” of escaping, acting suspiciously and covering himself in soot from a food delivery lorry on 21 August last year, while he was working in the prison kitchen.

He was spotted and reported to security but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened so decided to take the “full measure,” he told the jury.

Talking about his escape for the first time at his Woolwich Crown Court trial, Khalife told how he fashioned a makeshift sling from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by inmates to keep their possessions safe from rats.

He attached it to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September last year, to see if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons on the delivery route.

“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope underneath the lorry,” he said.

“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly so I tested the security not just in Wandsworth

“Strangely, over the coming days, I could see it but it wasn’t spotted in Wandsworth or any other prison.”

Then on the morning of 6 September, Khalife said he concealed himself underneath the lorry, resting his back on the sling as the lorry was searched.

“They did normal checks around with torches but they didn’t find me. After that, a governor came to the tunnel and said, ‘Have you searched the vehicle?’

“I was facing upwards. There was action around the lorry.”

He said that when the vehicle stopped he “came out underneath the lorry and stayed in the prone position” until the lorry moved off.

Khalife, who joined the Army aged 16 and took up a post with the Royal Signals, based in Beacons barracks, Staffordshire, said he made no attempt to leave the country and had no intention to “run away” from the charges he was facing.

He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, west London, after a nationwide manhunt.

Asked why he had not handed himself in after his escape, Khalife said: “I was finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison. What use was that to anyone?”

“I accept that I left the prison and didn’t have any permission to do so,” he said. “I accept absolutely that I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Inspired by Homeland

The court has heard Khalife initiated contact with Iranian intelligence officers after he was told he could not pass developed vetting because his mother was born in Iran.

Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and he said in court he thought he would be “congratulated” but described his arrest as like a “punch in the face”.

Wearing a blue checked shirt and chinos, he said police were “blinded at the prospect of a successful prosecution” but he did not think being in prison would be in “the public interest”.

“I didn’t do anything that harmed our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.

“I believed I could continue my work actually located in the state – the state being Iran.”

Khalife said he took inspiration from watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover, on Netflix.

“I had seen one of the characters in the programme had actually falsely defected to a particular country and utilised that position to further the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.

“The country in question, Iran, thought it was real. She did it to further the interests of her own country.”

Khalife told jurors he is a “patriot”, adding: “I do love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to do any harm, I never did do any harm.”

He added: “It is tragic it has come to this and I would do anything to go back to my career.”

Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.

The trial continues.