New Tech Nation Report Shows Asian Companies Second in the World for Emerging Technology Investment While London Is the Emerging Technology Hub of Europe

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LONDON, Mar. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

- China remains second largest tech investment market in the world

- Asian companies second in the world for investment in emerging technology

- Asian investors looking for opportunity in the UK: 21% of UK tech investment

was from Asian investors in 2019

Tech Nation, the growth platform for technology leaders, reveals findings today

on the UK and Asian tech sectors in its annual, Tech Nation Report

[https://technation.io/report2020/ ].

China remains second largest tech investment market in the world.

The US continues to lead the world in tech investment for another year. In

2019, 81.9 billion pounds sterling was raised by US tech companies. China

closely follows for total investment at 32.2 billion pounds sterling, and then

the UK at 10.1 billion pounds sterling. Investment into UK tech companies rose

by 44% from 2018, however, investment dropped by 20% in the US from 2018,

and in China investment dropped by 65%.

Emerging Tech Investment

London was the leading European city for investment into emerging technology at

4bn pounds between 2015 and 2019. Beijing and Shanghai led in Asia for investment

into emerging technology at 10bn pounds and 2bn pounds respectively. San Francisco led

globally with the city attracting 16bn pounds of VC investment  into emerging technology

from 2015 to 2019.

Almost half of the total investment into Asia was made towards AI development

at 15.56 billion pounds.

Tech investment made into Beijing (accounting for 38% of all VC investment in Asia)

focussed AI development, robotics and cybersecurity, while in Shanghai (accounting for

9% of total Asian tech investment)it focussed solely on AI development. In Singapore

(5%) ivestment focused on AI and blockchain, in Tokyo (3%) investment focused on

robotics and in Seoul (2%) investment focussed on AI and blockchain.

Ho Chi Minh City (2%) received investment only for blockchain technology development.

UK & Asian Tech Collaboration

4.9 billion pounds sterling was invested into UK tech companies by US and Asian

investors in 2019, accounting for 45% of all investment made into UK tech. 21%

of this investment came from Asian investors. For instance, Greensill received

$800m from Softbank and Oaknorth received $400m from Softbank and Singapore’s

Clermont Group.

This is a strong health indicator for UK unicorns of the present and future,

and of the UK economy, given that the top 30 foreign-funded tech companies in

the UK have created more than 5,000 UK jobs.

In 2019, 118 Venture Capital deals were completed in Asia by UK investors.

Entrepreneur First was the largest single UK investor with 24 deals, 21 of

these deals were into Singapore companies such as Hydroleap, a cleantech

business which collects and purifies water, that raised £1.54mn and SensorFlow,

a cleantech business that manages energy for hotels that raised £25.mn.

Gerard Grech, Chief Executive, Tech Nation, commented: "Asia continues to push

the envelope when it comes to innovating emerging technologies, such as AI,

robotics and cyber. We look forward to continuing to work with some of the best

tech founders and investors across the continent, building on the UK's growing

tech specialisms as we see investment into the UK tech sector increase, up 44%

in 2019 from 2018."

SOURCE: Tech Nation