IT sector, the most active sector with 34% of transactions
According to data provided by Pitchbook, 382 companies have completed a financing round by venture capital during 2013. The IT sector received the largest number of deal flow, accounting for 34% of the total, followed by healthcare, B2B, B2C and energy.
"As in the rest of Europe and the US, the IT sector is the one that receives the largest number of transactions, but in the UK the percentage of representation is lower. In Europe it accounted for 66% during the first quarter of 2013 and in the US 44%" analyses Diego Gutierrez of Abra Invest a company specialising in SME financing.
While in the IT sector 83% of deals were concentrated in the software segment, in the health sector it was more spread out: almost 50% for pharma&biotech, 37% for equipment and supplies and 8% for technology systems. The average deal size was $1.8M per deal. The largest deal was Truphonea mobile communications company that raised $116M in February 2013.
$2.2bn for business sales: highest level since 2007
During 2013, 53 UK companies funded by the venture capital $2,200M were sold, almost double the amount recorded in 2012. This is the fourth consecutive year that the number of sales has increased compared to the previous year, almost double the 24 transactions in 2009. The largest sales of companies were led by Ubiquisysa manufacturer of communications equipment, which has been acquired by CISCO by $310M.
The most active investors
According to the number of transactions carried out, the most active investors have been:
1. Scottish Enterprise (22)
2. Enterprise Ventures (19)
3. Midven (16)
4. Index Ventures (15)
5. Angel CoFund, Imperial Innovations Group, Octopus Investments (12)
6. Business Growth Fund, Mercia Fund Management MMC Ventures (11)
7. London Business Angels (10)