The Top 10 Most Active Venture Capital Firms in the UK Today In the United Kingdom, a vibrant venture capital (VC) landscape has given rise to some of the world's most active firms supporting the growth of startups and fostering the development of local, regional and global entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
We dug into the data and present to you the 10 most active VC firms in the UK, highlighting their significant contributions to the startup ecosystem based on the EMEA VC Investor Prominence Rank developed by Dealroom. The algorithm uses a comprehensive analysis that evaluates portfolio size, total value of the current portfolio, total deals, level of activity in the past 12 months, the ability to spot 'winners' in the early seed stage, and the number of unicorns and 'predicted soon-icorns' backed.
Ranking Methodology
There are some interesting metrics included in this ranking methodology. The total number of deals completed by the VC firm, particularly those in the last 12 months, measures the firm's activity level and ensures no zombie VCs are considered.
The ability to spot 'winners' in the early seed stage is also a crucial indicator, as it evaluates the firm's foresight and capability to invest in startups with high growth potential early on. Additionally, assessing the number of unicorns that each VC firm has backed reflects the firm's success in identifying and supporting high-growth potential startups. The ranking also takes into account the number of companies within the VC firm's portfolio that exhibit the potential to become unicorns in the future, indicating the firm's ability to invest in promising startups at early stages.
To ensure a fair comparison among firms, Dealroom has introduced a dilution factor to this year's ranking, which adjusts for the success of investments based on the stage at which the VC firm first invested in a company, such as Seed, Series A, or later stages. For example, investing in a startup during the Seed round carries more weight than investing at Series C, reflecting the higher risk and potential impact of early-stage investments. This adjustment accounts for the varying levels of risk and reward associated with different investment stages, ensuring a balanced assessment of each firm's performance.
The Top 10 VCs Ranking
Now, let's explore the top 10 most active VC firms in the UK, looking at their investment strategies, notable portfolios, and their overall impact on the startup landscape. It wont' come as a suprise that every last one of these top 10 VC firms are headquartered in London.
1. LocalGlobe
- Established: 1999 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 277 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: $38.8 billion
- No. of Exits: 61 (23% Exit Rate)
LocalGlobe primarily focuses on Seed-stage and impact investments through two main funds: LocalGlobe Fund for Pre-Seed and Seed investments, and Latitude Fund, a growth-stage fund with an additional US $220 million for breakout and early growth stages. LocalGlobe has closed a total of 402 rounds with a portfolio of companies spanning technology, healthcare, and consumer goods among other industries. They have had a total of 61 exits, including link management platform Bitly, payroll automation solution Pento, tech job search platform Otta, and online kitchen and home portal Food52.
2. Index Ventures
- Established: 1996 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 696 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: $241.4 billion
- No. of Exits: 245 (36% Exit Rate)
Index Ventures invests in companies at various stages, from Seed to Series A, across diverse sectors, from AI, adtech, and fintech, to enterprise, hardware, and more. Some of their notable portfolio companies include cloud storage player Dropbox, OpenAI competitor Cohere, and language translation company DeepL. Index Ventures has made 1,124 investments to date, their most recent being DeepL which raised US $300 million in a Series A round on May 22, 2024.
3. SeedCamp
- Established: 2007 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 416 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $42.6 billion
- No. of Exits: 54 (13% Exit Rate)
Seedcamp supports startups at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages by investing early in world-class founders who are attacking large and global markets through disruptive technology. Seedcamp has an impressive portfolio that spans various industries, and among their notable investments are educational platform MarcoPolo Learning, high-performance time-series database QuestDB, and Ezra AI, which is leveraging AI for medical imaging applications. They've also seen significant growth, with wefox raising one of the largest Insurtech rounds at a post-money valuation of US $4.5 billion in 2022, a 50% increase from the previous year. Seedcamp's unicorn count grew to 9 when viz.ai and Grover joined the herd that same year.
4. Balderton Capital:
- Established: 2000 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 291 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $64.4 billion
- No. of Exits: 143 (50% Exit Rate)
Balderton Capital is known for its investments in early-stage Series A technology and internet startups across Europe, and has completed 516 investment rounds since their establishment in 2000. Their notable portfolio companies includes fintech company Revolut, the world's largest online betting exchange Betfair, and Sophia Genetics, a leader in genomic data analysis for personalized medicine. They have been involved in 3 IPOs and 11 acquisitions in the last 18 months alone, and their most recent investment in cleantech trawa raised €10 million on May 15, 2024.
5. Entrée Capital
- Established: 2010 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 162 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $39.8 billion
- No. of Exits: 34 (21% Exit Rate)
Entrée Capital provides predominantly seed-stage funding for innovative startups and companies worldwide. Entrée has backed startups across SaaS, AI, Fintech, Security, Data, Consumer, and more, with over 31 exits and IPOs including monday.com (NASDAQ:MNDY), Deliveroo (LON:ROO), Cazoo (NYSE:CZOO), PillPack (acquired by Amazon), and Breezometer (acquired by Google). From a total of 259 investments, Entrée Capital's most recent investment was in MagnusMetal in April 2024 when it raised US $74 million in a Series B round.
6. Northzone:
Established: 1996 in London, UK
No. of Companies in Portfolio: 198 startups
Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $51.0 billion
No. of Exits: 70 (36% Exit Rate)
Northzone partners with founders most often for Series A funding rounds across Europe and the US. They've made over 300 investments during their journey, and their notable portfolios include music streaming giant Spotify, freight mobility company Einride, and Homa, the world's leading platform for creating and publishing mobile games. Northzone raised a landmark fund of €1 billion in September 2022 which is furthering investments in fintech, healthtech, SaaS, and consumer tech, and their annual Impact ESG Report contributes to transparency and accountability within the ecosystem.
7. Episode 1 Ventures
- Established: 2013 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 87 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $3.2 billion
- No. of Exits: 20 (23% Exit Rate)
Episode 1 Ventures specializes in investing in B2B software-driven businesses at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. They build relationships early, make decisions swiftly, and engage with founders for the long term, guiding startups toward successful funding rounds. Their portfolio includes clinical research tech company Sano Genetics, global employment platform Omnipresent, and open-source time-series database QuestDB, and they have had several successful exits, including FatMap and SimplyCook. To identify promising founders early on, their data platform has expanded their top-of-funnel by 53% over the last three months and have made approximately 15 investments using their new data-driven tooling, sourcing promising startups. They recently closed their third fund at US $95 million.
8. Passion Capital
- Established: 2011 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 99 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $19.1 billion
- No. of Exits: 20 (21% Exit Rate)
Passion Capital was established with a mission to bring founder-friendly, operationally-minded venture investing to the UK and Europe and stands out as one of the first operator-led venture funds in Europe with a female founding GP, Eileen Burbidge. Specialized in investing in Seed-stage tech startups, Passion Capital has made 191 investments in startups such as pet health and wellness platform Lassie, and AI-powered video interview analysis tool Retorio, their most recent being in conversational AI platform PolyAI's US $50 million Series C round in May 2024.
9. 83North
- Established: 2006 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 97 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $35.0 billion
- No. of Exits: 41 (43% Exit Rate)
83North has rich history of backing innovative startups primarily in Series A funding, supporting exceptional entrepreneurs who aim to build global category-leading companies. They leverage data to identify promising startups early on, making informed investment decisions and providing experienced mentorship to their portfolio companies. 83North has made 259 investments since inception in companies including leading ride-sharing platform Via, software commerce platform Paddle, and global marketplace solution Mirakl. Their US $400 million fund closed in 2022 brought their total capital under management to over $2.2 billion.
10. MMC Ventures
- Established: 2000 in London, UK
- No. of Companies in Portfolio: 125 startups
- Total Estimated Value of Current Portfolio: US $10.5 billion
- No. of Exits: 27 (22% Exit Rate)
MMC Ventures invests in early-stage, high-growth UK companies from Seed to Series A and distinguishes itself through its commitment to going deeper—both in the technologies they invest in and the partnerships they build with founders. MMC Ventures has made 206 investments in a diverse range of startups like companies that create sustainable choices for customers, including those in the Circular Economy. Some of their notable investments include AI-driven predictive maintenance platform for industrial machinery Senseye, sustainable ventilation system provider Breathing Buildings, and home exchange platform Love Home Swap. MMC Ventures is the first commercial venture capital firm in the UK to qualify as a B Corporation, and their client Gousto became the UK's first and only profitable B Corp unicorn, delivering over 1.5 million meals every month.
There is no magical crystal ball to look to in order to assess winning startups to back. The ability of top VC firms like these to spot potential 'winners' early and provide the necessary support and resources for exponential growth sets them apart. As more and more firms continue to back the next generation of groundbreaking companies and soonicorns, we look forward to seeing how these venture capitalists and their peers will undoubtedly play a crucial role in defining the UK's position in the global startup arena.