Analyst firm CB Insights has published a list of the most active investors in the UK technology industry over the last five years, with regional venture capital group North West Fund taking top spot ahead of Index Ventures and Accel Partners.
North West Fund provides £155m worth of finance as part of a revolving credit fund to small or medium-sized businesses based in, or relocating to, the North West of England.
Investments from £50,000 to £2m are available, with the fund focusing particularly on biomedical, digital and creative, energy and environmental investments.
It has already supported more than 285 businesses across Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside with over £97m of investment.
Formed in 1996, with its UK office opening in 2002, Index Ventures has made several high-profile investments over the last year, including $65m (£38.8m) into peer to peer lending service Funding Circle in July and providing a $25m round for London-based money transfer business TransferWise the month before.
Third-place Accel Partners has invested in several notable companies recently, included mobile typing app SwiftKey and taxi app Hailo.
The rest of the CB Insights top ten list consisted of, in order, Balderton Capital, Midven, MMC Ventures, Northstar Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, Notion Capital and DFJ Esprit.
The list will come as welcome news to observers of the UK technology scene, following worries that investment in the country was at risk of falling short. Data released by Accenture last year found that over half of the UK’s business leaders believed the country was falling behind China and the US in terms of driving technology innovation.
