Welcome to the first edition of the North East: M&A Technology Sector Snapshot – a joint production from Ryecroft Glenton Corporate Finance and Mercia Asset Management PLC.
We will publish a snapshot each quarter to provide information on national themes in the UK tech sector, as well as focusing on developments closer to home, in the North East.
The snapshot will provide an insight into key industry trends, current market data, news and an overview of recent transactions.
Each quarter we will shine the spotlight on a specific sub-sector within the technology industry – this quarter we are taking a closer look at the Gaming Sector.
In this first issue the deal round up covers the five months from Oct-20 to Feb-21. In future, the deal round up will focus on the deals in the preceding quarter.
The tech sector is a broad church and includes, amongst others, Software, IT Services, Unified Comms, E-Commerce, Digital Media, and Cyber Security. No doubt new sub sectors will be added as innovative technology is developed.
The UK tech market had a strong year in 2020, with investment in technology companies surging ahead of pre-pandemic investment levels across the UK and in the North East, with over $15bn investment across the country. The UK also saw multiple companies reaching ‘Unicorn’ status. Unicorns are privately owned start-ups reaching a value of over $1 billion and include Gymshark (Ecommerce), Octopus Energy (Renewable Energy) and Cazoo (Ecommerce). This brings the total of UK technology Unicorns to 80 companies, more than any other country in Europe, demonstrating the tremendously supportive and fertile environment for tech business in the UK.
Sources – Technation.co.uk, Businessleader.co.uk, Cityam.co.uk, GPBullhound.com
View our other North East: M&A Technology Sector Snapshots here.
