Funding is the backbone for the remarkable growth of startups in many countries, including the UK. The generous investment received by UK startups from venture capitalists plays a massive role in the country’s advancement in this area.
In the last three years, UK startups recorded an all-time high in venture capital investment, with over $25B (€22.9B) raised.
Furthermore, UK startups garnered funding that surpassed the combined total raised by startups in both France and Germany last year, making them the most invested country in Europe.
As we move to the second quarter of 2024, let’s see some of the most exciting funding rounds in the first quarter this year for UK startups.
Monzo Bank
Founder(s): Tom Blomfield, Jonas Templestein, Jason Bates, Paul Rippon and Gary Dolman
Founded in: 2015
Funding: £340M (€398M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here
Monzo is a digital-only bank platform and marketplace based in the UK, founded in 2015. Aside from individual users, the platform also targets sole traders and SMEs.
The digital bank offers mobile banking services primarily through its mobile app, allowing customers to manage their finances, make payments, track expenses, and more — all from their smartphones.
The finance tech company raised £340M (€398M) in a late VC round on March 5. Passion Capital, GV, Tencent, CapitalG, and HongShan led the investment.
Deliveroo
Founder(s):Â William Shu and Greg OrlowskiÂ
Founded in: 2013
Funding: £83.2M (€97.3M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here,
Deliveroo is a food delivery service company that operates primarily through a mobile app and website. Since 2013, it has partnered with nearly 200,000 restaurants and over 180,000 riders to deliver meals to customers’ doorsteps.
Deliveroo operates in over 800 locations across 10 countries, providing convenient and efficient food delivery services to its users.
Last January, Deliveroo secured £83.2M (€97.3M) in a secondary round.
Zenobe Energy
Founder(s): Nicholas Beatty, James Basden, and Steven Meersman
Founded in: 2017
Funding: £147M (€172M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Zenobe Energy, formerly known as Battery Energy Storage Solutions Limited, is a UK-based company that provides battery storage facilities and charging points for electric vehicles.Â
Zenobe Energy was established to support the transition to full zero-carbon, non-polluting power and transport systems.
The company secured £147M (€172M) of project finance debt in January to fund its battery storage site in Kilmarnock South, Scotland. The site is an important asset that could provide 300MW/600MWh electricity.
NatWest has organised the financing, which is backed by prominent infrastructure banks such as ABN AMRO, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Rabobank, Santander UK, Siemens Financial Services (through Siemens Bank), and SMBC Group.
Immunocore
Founder(s): Bent Jakobsen and James Noble
Founded in: 2008
Funding: $300M (€274M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here
Immunocore is a biotechnology company that develops innovative biological treatments to meet the needs of patients in oncology, infectious diseases, and autoimmune conditions.
Based in Oxford, Immunocore specialises in T-cell receptor (TCR) technology to create biological drugs to solve unmet needs in cancer, infection, and autoimmune diseases.
One of Immunocore’s leading therapies, KIMMTRAK, has gained approval for treating certain types of melanoma in multiple countries, including the US, European countries, Canada, and Australia.
Its latest funding round is a post-IPO convertible in January, offering $300M (€274M) aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2030.Â
Quantinum
Founder(s): Ilyas Khan
Founded in: 2021
Funding: $300M (€274M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
Quantinuum is a quantum computing company founded in 2021, a merger of Cambridge Quantum and Honeywell Quantum Solutions. The company aims to address the world’s most pressing challenges by accelerating quantum computing.Â
Quantinuum has developed middleware and software for trapped-ion and other quantum computing platforms, including applications in quantum chemistry, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
The Cambridge-based company secured $300M (€274M) in funding from a late VC round on January 16. The funding is participated by Mitsui & Co, Honeywell, Amgen, and JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Deep Green
Founder(s): Mark Bjornsgaard
Founded in: 2021
Funding: £200m (€234M)
Hiring: No
Deep Green is a data centre heat reuse startup. It focuses on developing and deploying compact, edge-type data centres that produce heat, which businesses can repurpose in diverse ways.
The London-based company generates revenue by offering energy-efficient computing space to clients for various uses such as AI, machine learning, video rendering, and cloud applications.
Deep Green secured £200m (€234M) investment from Octopus Energy’s generation branch in January. The funding will be used to expand Deep Green operations to heat 100 -150 swimming pools in the UK using recycled heat from data centres.
10x Banking
Founder(s): Antony Jenkins
Founded in: 2016
Funding: $45M (€41M)
Hiring: Yes, check job opportunities here.
10x Banking is a fintech company based in London that provides digital banking solutions and services to financial institutions.
It offers a range of products, including the cloud-native banking platform Supercore, which integrates with banks’ wider technology estates and allows financial companies to launch customisable products.
In January, 10x Banking obtained a $45M (€41M) investment from BlackRock and JP Morgan Chase & Co to fuel expansion efforts into the Asia Pacific region.
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