Cambridge tech companies attract more investment per head than London’s

Cambridge outstripped London in 2019 for investment per head in tech companies.

It received £3,361 of investment per person, compared to just £840.25 in London, despite the capital having 51,000 digital tech businesses generating £64billion turnover.

It made the city comfortably top of the UK tech investment table, ahead of Glasgow. London Came third, with Manchester and Oxford behind.

The findings, in a report by sales recruitment specialist Pareto Law, also show Cambridge had 3.1 start-ups per 1,000 people, compared to 1.9 per cent in London, and 3.9 investors per 1,000 people, compared to 1.6 per in the capital.

Cambridge’s biotech specialism - with 46 companies in the field - helped it lead the way.

But nationally the most investment went into deep tech start-ups – companies that develop products or services based on new scientific breakthroughs - with €3.3bn invested. This was followed by artificial intelligence (€2.2bn) and delivery (€1.1bn). Biotechnology and blockchain completed the top five.

Jonathan Fitchew, CEO of Pareto Law, said: Cambridge emerging as the UK’s Silicon Valley is a prime example of how successful technology hubs can develop and attract the best candidates outside of London. The impact of venture capitalists investing rapidly in the tech industry is helping support the growth and expansion of the industry in the UK.”

The figures come following a week which saw investors pile £182million into a range of Cambridge companies, suggesting that there has been no slowdown in investment activity in 2020.

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