Venture capital technology investments have reached a 10-year high,research has found.
A total of 596m pounds was invested in UK tech companies during the first half of 2012,the highest amount for any six-month period in 10 years,according to finance firm Ascendant.
Total venture capital investment grew to 297m pounds in the second quarter of 2012,a 27%increase on the same period last year,said the company.The number of companies invested in also rose to 60,compared with 48 last year.
Internet,mobile and digital media were the key areas of investment,increasing by 30%to almost 250m pounds.But for the first time,the software segment received no increase in venture capital investment,with just 16 companies gaining funding in the second quarter.
"These numbers are much better than expected and present a very encouraging investment picture,"said Ascendant managing director Stuart McKnight.
The market appears to be moving up by all the key indicators–in volume,number of investors and deal size,he added.
"With just under 600m pounds invested in the first half of 2012,the outlook for this year looks good.We anticipate that the final figure for 2012 will be greater than 900m pounds,but will probably not exceed 1bn pounds,"said McKnight.
According to Ascendant,the biggest deals for the second quarter were Just-Eat(40m pounds),Enecsys( 25m pounds),Prosonix(17m pounds),Huddle(15m pounds),Isentropic(14m pounds),Openet(14m pounds),P2i(12m pounds),Funding Circle(10m pounds),MedicAnimal(10m pounds)and Notonthehighstreet(10m pounds).