A strong indicator of the UK’s rise is the increasing number of US VCs that have established a presence in Britain. We’ve seen the likes of Sequoia, Lightspeed Ventures and Plug and Play flock across the pond recently. As a result, UK companies continue to attract strong levels of investment, despite a challenging macro-economic climate. In fact, the UK now ranks among the top five markets for global venture capital funding activity, with more than a 1000 VC funding deals totalling $18 billion announced in the first half of this year.  

Our success on the global stage can also be attributed to our world class universities. The UK is home to 8 of the world’s top 50 universities, giving companies access to a healthy pool of skilled talent and research and development programmes. And with more software engineers than any other European city, it’s no surprise to see that the likes of Google, Salesforce and Amazon have established some of their biggest developer hubs outside of the US in London. 

But what’s next for the UK’s tech sector now it has firmly established itself as a global player? And how can the UK and Silicon Valley collaborate to solve common challenges?

The UK and the Bay Area are home to some of the best innovators and problem solvers on the planet. If we can harness our shared entrepreneurial spirit and creativity, our business ecosystems can have a positive influence on society.

For example, we know that more needs to be done to promote a more diverse business environment where founders can get access to funding and growth opportunities, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality or socio-economic background.

According to Crunchbase, companies with female founders raised just 2.2% of all venture funding in 2021. The figures on VC funding for diverse female founders are even more staggering, with Black female start-up founders receiving just 0.34% of the total venture capital spent in the U.S. last year. 

As two of the world’s leading tech hubs, the UK and Silicon Valley have a collective responsibility to step up and lead the way in championing a more inclusive global tech sector.

US and UK companies are also facing a challenging global economic environment. However, the investors we’ve heard from this week at the Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK) summit have made it clear that VCs still have a large amount of dry-powder available. In fact, one recent piece of research from Pitchbook revealed there is $290bn undeployed capital available in US and $44bn in Europe. 

But if entrepreneurs want to access this capital, they will need to work even harder to stand out from the crowd and demonstrate that they can provide investors with a strong return-on-investment.

Mission driven companies that are solving big problems with resilient business models and clear paths to profitability will have a better chance of attracting investment. By setting measurable and clear impact goals, companies will also attract the best talent in today's challenging recruitment climate. 

With COP27 taking place this week, conversations around climate and sustainability have also been high on the agenda. Sustainable growth is something London is taking seriously, with the city setting an ambitious target to reach net zero carbon by 2030. Arguably, this is in area Silicon Valley and other cities across the world are looking to follow London’s lead on.

As we wrap up this year’s SVC2UK event series, it’s been clear from the conversations between investors, policy makers and entrepreneurs, that the UK and Silicon Valley are well placed to weather the current economic headwinds.

By sharing ideas and working together to solve common challenges, our two ecosystems can achieve great things. And if we focus efforts on championing companies that are committed to making a positive impact, the UK and Silicon Valley will continue to remain two of the world’s most attractive hubs for investors, talent and entrepreneurs.