The growth of Britain’s early-stage technology start-ups – including proptech – is being hampered by dwindling venture capital investment, according to a report by Google.
The proportion of funding for the earliest-stage tech companies fell from 15% of overall investment in the UK technology sector in 2011 to 4.8% last year, the study found.
Overall, investment in British tech start-ups has hit record levels, sitting at £32.6bn, which places the UK as the fourth biggest country in the world for tech investment. However, an ever-larger proportion of these funds has gone to later-stage companies, which present investors with less risk.
During 2020-21, venture capital investment in the technology sector increased by 130% – but investment in early-stage companies went up by only 14%.
