UK Tech Overtakes China as World's Second Largest Country for Startup Funding Raised

"China may be the world's second-largest economy," writes Fortune's news editor, "but when it comes to startup funding, the U.K. is punching above its weight." Startups in the U.K. raised $6.7 billion in funding during the first half of 2024, helping dethrone China and propelling the U.K. to second place globally for funds raised, according to a new report. Crucial to the U.K.'s success were a dozen funding rounds worth over $100 million each, including those of digital bank Monzo ($620 million), lender Abound ($862 million), and automated driving startup Wayve ($1.05 billion).

While the overall U.K. figure was down 2% year on year, according to data from global market intelligence platform Tracxn, it remained more robust than that of China, whose funding sat at $6.1 billion in H1 2024, helping the U.K. move into the No. 2 spot globally. The win is a milestone for the U.K. tech sector, which has remained under pressure owing to a string of challenges, including Brexit, COVID-19, and the subsequent global economic slowdown.

Only the U.S. saw startups raise more capital in H1, with a combined $54.8 billion raised across some 2,654 funding rounds in the first half of the year.
The article's last line? "With the arrival of new U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, many will be hoping that the first Labour government in 14 years will continue to support the U.K.'s position as a critical player in the global tech landscape."

Finance

[timeOday]

2 of the 3 startups mentioned are financial institutions. Capitalizing a bank isn't the same as investing in technology.

Lower costs in China

[Malc]

I bet the money in China goes further than in the UK because the cost of things like wages is lower. Is there a way to compare these numbers with such differences factored in?

Ukraine War

[ghoul]

The best way to compare relative strengths of economies is war. US , UK and Allies have donated 200B of kit to Ukraine. Russia has spent around 50B of kit and is beating Ukraine. So I would say dividing by a factor of 4.5 is a good approximation of how far money goes in the west.

Re:

[Malc]

Why on earth would you try to twist this in to a discussion about Russia's illegal war in Ukraine? This has nothing to do with the story and I doubt that your numbers for Russia are anywhere near accurate.