• Swindon & Wiltshire Economy
• Friday January 31 2025
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Venture capital investment almost doubles in South West

Venture capital investment in the South West almost doubled in the last quarter of 2024, according to professional services giant KPMG.

The firm’s Venture Pulse report says businesses in the South West received more than £104 million in venture capital investment during Q4 2024, up 82 per cent on the Q3 total of almost £57 million.

This meant the South West ranked fourth in terms of VC investment across the UK regions in Q4, trailing only London (£2.9 billion), the South East (£637.8 million) and the East of England (£480.5 million), which encompasses Oxford and Cambridge respectively.

Twenty-eight transactions were completed across the region, up from 21 in the previous quarter, with the highest proportion of deals taking place in Bristol, where seven VC investments took place.

£47.4 million, over half of the total figure raised in the region in Q4, was generated by investment into Huboo Technologies Ltd, a B2B products and services provider based in Bristol offering order fulfilment services for e-commerce sellers.

Investment into e-commerce fulfilment firm Huboo (pictured) – which was saved from administration and bought by an investor consortium at Christmas  –
drove an overall strong quarter for both B2B and B2C product and service providers in the South West, with £73.9 million invested into a total of 13 companies, spanning logistics, aerospace, environmental services and automotive.

IT was also a robust sector in terms of VC investment, with more than £14.7 million invested across 11 regional companies.

David Williams, office senior partner for the South West at KPMG UK, said: “It’s great to see such a steep increase in VC investment in the South West during Q4, positioning it as the fourth largest UK region for the quarter, which is testament to the region’s thriving private business ecosystem.

“Looking ahead to 2025, we’re excited to see the continued growth of the South West’s most promising firms, which span a huge range of sectors, especially those that make the most of VC funding to pursue expansion.”

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