Ones to watch: UK home to nearly a quarter of Europe’s prospective unicorns
The UK is home to nearly a quarter of Europe’s prospective unicorns for this year, according to research shared exclusively with City A.M. today.
Firms such as Hammersmith-based moving company AnyVan, verification software firm Onfido and apprenticeships group Multiverse have been marked as ‘ones to watch’ by investment firm GP Bullhound and Viva Technology.
Outside of the UK, other potential unicorns – companies which hit a valuation of $1bn or more – include online flower retailer Bloom & Wild and popular document transfer platform WeTransfer.
Co-founder and managing partner at GP Bullhound, Manish Madhvani told City A.M.: “The numbers speak for themselves – out of the 321 unicorns in Europe, Britain is home to over 100 of them.
“That’s a staggering share, and testament to the unique capability of this country to produce world-beating, innovative businesses. This list is proof that we also have a healthy pipeline of companies well on their way to become unicorns of tomorrow.”
While fintech continues to lead the way, the UK has fast started to develop beyond and into health tech, gaming and insurtech, Madhvani explained.
“The country has come a long way in producing true tech pioneers that are now being recognised as globally renowned businesses,” the investment boss added, though the next task is keeping these blossoming firms on home turf.
“It’s important that we don’t take our eye off the ball and ensure that all these scaling businesses remain in the UK,” continued Madhvani. “We’ve created the right conditions to nurture startups through to unicorn status with ample investment, sector knowledge and talent.
“The challenge now is to keep these businesses on home soil. We need an attitudinal change in the investor culture towards high growth, loss making businesses. This will ultimately ensure we don’t lose our roster of unicorns at the most crucial stage in their maturation.”