Europe is the fastest growing region in the world in terms of venture capital (VC) investment, attracting €48 billion so far in 2021 according to new statistics from Dealroom.

However, the US and China took first and second spots respectively in terms of total VC funding raised.

More than £221 billion has been raised by start-ups worldwide since the start of the year according to the research, over double that of the same period in 2020.

Dealroom’s statistics also found the world is producing unicorns at a record rate in 2021; producing two a day, compared to roughly one a day in 2020.

A unicorn is a privately owned start-up company with a valuation of over $1 billion.
There are currently 1,600 unicorns worldwide according to Dealroom, of which 900 are yet to list.

The US has 800 of these unicorns, China has 280, while Europe has 268, with alone London having 71 unicorns.

Investment rounds are also becoming larger according to Dealroom’s research; there have been more funding rounds with a value over $100 million in 2021 than Series C rounds in the whole of 2021.

The UK has been particularly successful in terms of producing FinTech start-ups; London is the second city in the world in terms of the number and success of its FinTech companies according to a recent index from Findexable.

London beat all the competition apart from San Francisco in terms of producing new FinTech companies, including New York, Sao Paulo, and Tel Aviv.

“Tech continues to be a major economic driver, attracting investment and jobs at a time when the rest of the economy slowed down as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Yoram Wijngaarde, founder and chief executive at Dealroom. “Investment into startups is at an all-time high because investors see tech as a safe asset and innovation is continuing as entrepreneurs are identifying gaps in the market and are bulging with ideas.”

He added: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the global tech sector.”

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