Digital firms in Tech City UK’s Future Fifty raise £470m as international expansion increases
Companies in the Future Fifty programme have raised £470m in funding during the first nine months of 2015, up 63 per cent on the total raised throughout the whole of 2014.
Tech City UK, which runs the programme, said the “exceptional fundraising activity” was linked to “unprecented rates of international expansion”.
Publicly funded Tech City said Future Fifty companies now have paying customers in 170 countries and a third of their combined employees are based outside the UK, which demonstrates “the potential for digital business to scale in the UK”.
Future Fifty is aimed at supporting high-growth digital businesses as they expand, and firms on the programme have collectively raised a total of £1.1bn since it launched in 2013. Companies that have benefitted from being a part of the Future Fifty group in the past include Just Eat, Zoopla and AO World.
Today’s announcement coincides with the opening of applications for the next round of Future Fifty companies. Last year’s group included TransferWise, RateSetter and World Remit.
Tech City UK boss Gerard Grech said: “Successful fundraising and international expansion are two fundamental characteristics of all fast growing digital businesses. Unprecedented numbers of British companies are following this growth trajectory and consolidating the UK’s position as a country in which the most successful companies can flourish.”