A summer "boom" for venture capital investment in the United Kingdom, with a focus on sustainability-driven scaleups

After two particularly high quarters in 2021, UK scaleups continued to attract funding from across the globe during the third quarter. A record high of over £6.5 billion was invested by venture capital firms in UK scaleups over the summer, taking the total amount of to £20 billion so far this year.

Nearly £20 billion of VC investment has been raised so far this year by scaleups in the UK. The UK has around 34,000 scaleups (businesses growing by more than 20% per annum by employee growth, turnover growth or both) and these make up a critical portion of UK SMEs.  

Bina Mehta, chair of KPMG’s UK Emerging Giants, has said that “The strength of the UK innovation brand is flying high with areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and FinTech attracting interest and finance from greater numbers of new players to the UK market, driving up valuations  for our most sought-after innovators.”

With all eyes focussed on COP26 next month, investor interest in sustainability-driven scaleups remains high. In the UK, over £750 million was raised by sustainability scaleups in the third quarter alone, with the energy sector continuing to attract the highest levels of investment.