A total of 791 venture capital (VC) funding deals were announced in the UK from January to May 2022, with the disclosed funding value of these deals standing at US$13.2 billion, noted GlobalData.

An analysis of the leading data and analytics company’s Financial Deals Database reveals that this is the highest VC funding volume and value for any European country during that period. Apart from being the largest European market, the UK also ranks among the top five global markets for VC funding.

“While several key markets such as the US witnessed a decline in VC funding value in May compared to the previous month, the UK emerged as a notable exception,” observed Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData.

 

“The UK’s overall VC funding value increased by 14.9 per cent in May compared to the previous month due to the announcement of some big-ticket deals valued at more than US$100 million. This comes despite a decline of 4.8% in deal volume,” Bose continued.

Big-ticket deals announced in May

Some of the most notable, big-ticket deals announced in the UK during May included US$377 million raised by Bloom, which provides founder-friendly capital to digital entrepreneurs, and whose pricing model ensures brands only pay for what they use. 

Meanwhile, US$200 million of funding was raised by Paddle, which was founded a decade ago by then 18-year-old Christian Owens, focuses on building tools for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies to handle payments – including checkout and subscription management. 

Elsewhere, US$160 million was raised by core banking software firm Thought Machine Group from January to May 2022, with Carbon Clean – a carbon capture technology innovator – raising US$150 million over the same period.