In brief: 100 unicorns for the British market

The United Kingdom has passed the milestone of 100 UK technology companies valued at $1 billion or more according to observations from the national network of UK entrepreneurs Tech Nation and Dealroom, providers of data on startups, growth companies and technology ecosystems in Europe and around the world.

The 100th UK delLicorn spot went to Tractable, an Artificial Intelligence startup, after a $60 million Series D fundraising round.

Collectively, the UK's 100 unicorns have raised nearly €28.9 billion in venture capital investments across several technology sectors (e-commerce, InsurTech, cybersecurity and energy). But the most buoyant sector remains FinTech, which accounts for 34% of the UK unicorns created.

The 100 mark has been passed thanks to a strong national momentum; the creation of tech unicorns has increased by 127% over the last 3 years in the country. And this growth seems to be exponential, as 13 of these unicorns were born in 2021 while 7 startups had achieved the status over the entire year 2020.

The UK becomes the third country after China and the US to have cradled more than 100 unicorns. In Europe, the country largely dominates Germany (which has 42), France (22) and the Netherlands (18).