Northern regions account for less than 3% of UK's VC investment in 2018, data shows

Businesses in the North received £226.6m in venture capital investment across 100 deals in 2018, new data shows.

The figure, revealed today (February 4) in a report by professional services giant KPMG, represents a year-on-year drop of 30.8%.

In 2017, Northern firms reaped £327.3m in venture capital funding.

The £226.6m figure reported for last year is just 2.94% of the c£7.7bn total invested in the UK by both domestic and global VCs.

Yorkshire companies attracted £40.4m from VCs last year. This was a year-on-year drop of 69% - the most significant seen across the Northern regions.

By comparison, the value of investment in the North West slid 30% to £122.2m.

But in the North East, VC interest skyrocketed 151% in 2018 to hit £64m.

The number of North East deals rose from 24 to 30, with one of the largest transactions being a £9m boost for Newcastle partner management platform Partnerize.

KPMG’s head of technology in the North, Graham Pearce, said: “The North remains a fertile and active market for venture capital but investors appear to be keeping their powder dry as they wait for trading conditions to become clearer, particularly given the risks when working with early stage businesses.

“Our report indicates that there is still a healthy appetite from seed through to later stage investment, particularly with IT and healthcare businesses, as northern research hubs continue to perform highly.”

He added: “As such, the region should strengthen its resolve to prosper in 2019 even if investors remain shy in the first half of the year.”