Business News Round Up (17/05/2024)
UK circular economy investments rose to over £1.3bn in 2023
The UK’s circular economy sector has continued to thrive in 2023, with investments reaching record levels despite a challenging economic environment. According to a report released by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP, the number of circular economy related investments in the UK increased by an impressive 30% to 184 transactions in 2023, significantly outperforming the overall UK M&A market, which experienced a 17% drop in volume during the same period. This follows notable growth for the sector in 2022. The report, titled ‘Investors in Circular Economy’, reveals that disclosed capital deployed into the sector surged by more than 50% year-on-year, reaching £1.328 billion in 2023. The average disclosed investment per deal also increased by 15% to £10.7 million. BDO estimates that the total investment in the UK circular economy in 2023, based on the average disclosed investment, was around £2 billion.
https://resource.co/article/uk-circular-economy-investments-rose-over-13bn-2023
Glasgow region tech ecosystem hits £4.1 billion valuation according to new report
Glasgow’s regional tech ecosystem has hit a valuation of £4.1 billion according to a new industry report. Its collective enterprises are now part of one of the fastest-growing clusters in the UK, according to Dealroom’s second annual report on the city region. The report dives into the rapid growth of the ecosystem – including a record year of investment in 2023 – with venture capitalists and angel investors securing opportunities in Glasgow’s emerging tech sectors across food, climate, recruitment, photonics. Healthcare, in particular, drew more than 50% of all investments through 2023, illustrating how the importance of med-tech and life sciences to the city region. Leading academic institutions have also continued to support innovation, with nearly 30% of the total enterprise value coming from regional university spinouts. Early-stage investment is also on the rise with breakout stage in particular at an all-time high of £99 million, up 50% from 2022.
North West region attracts £43m of venture capital investments in first quarter
Venture capital (VC) investments in the North West exceeded £43m in the first quarter of 2024, according to KPMG Private Enterprise’s latest Venture Pulse report. Firms that attracted the largest investments in the North West include, AccessPay with a £19m venture capital investment and the Insights Family with a £5.6m investment. Both businesses are based in Manchester. In 2023, there were a total of 114 VC investments in the North West worth more than £462m combined. Nationally, VC investment into UK businesses continued to slide in Q1 2024, falling to levels last seen in 2018. Coming off the back of $4.9bn raised by UK businesses in the last quarter of 2023, just $3bn in funding was raised in Q1’24 – the lowest amount seen in 22 quarters. Deal volumes were also down with the Venture Pulse report recording just 519 deals completed in the period, levels not seen since 2016.
UK business leaders to increase investments in AI
With hype around generative AI continuing to mount, recent polling suggests that 75% of business leaders are afraid that their firm might be missing out on the technology. And while ‘first movers’ for the technology so far might have been overstating their hand, businesses are increasingly wary of losing ground to competitors when applying a technology that promises huge productivity boosts. In line with this, 73% of global business leaders have told Deloitte that they are adopting the technology at a “fast” or “very fast” pace – versus only 40% of organizations with “some” level of expertise. Nearly 2,000 global business leaders including board, president, vice president and director levels spoke to Deloitte, with researchers finding that 61% of those with high expertise were investing more in hardware for AI, while 80% were investing more in cloud consumption to boost their generative AI strategy.
https://www.consultancy.uk/news/37248/uk-business-leaders-to-increase-investments-in-ai