European venture capital thrived in 2020 despite the presence of a pandemic. In fact, VC deal value for the region set a new annual record of €42.8 billion, a noteworthy achievement given the macroeconomic damage delivered by the pandemic.
For this list, we’re looking solely at VC-backed companies in the UK. The top UK companies with the highest venture valuations have a combined value of more than £33 billion and are largely clustered in the capital city. The nine companies highlighted below operate across a variety of industries and verticals, although financial technology companies—including online payment, mobile banking and money transferring services—are especially well-represented.
According to PitchBook, this is the list of companies in the UK with the highest venture valuations as of 18 February 2021:
Checkout.com
Post valuation: £11.11 billion
Checkout.com is the provider of an online payments platform that tracks and secures digital payments across the internet. The company’s app integrates with an end-to-end payment technology that eliminates intermediaries, accepts multiple credit and debit cards, connects retailers with shopper’s bank accounts and more. Founded in 2012, Checkout.com raised £333.34 million of Series C venture funding in a deal led by Tiger Global Management in January 2021.
Revolut
Post valuation: £4.14 billion
Revolut developed a mobile foreign exchange and money transferring application. Its software compares live exchange rates for multiple currencies and makes transfers directly, as well as helps users track their monthly expenses and buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2015, Revolut raised £463.01 million of Series D venture funding in a deal led by TCV in July 2020.
OneTrust
Post valuation: £3.81 billion
OneTrust is a developer of a technology platform designed for tackling privacy management. The company helps businesses comply with data privacy regulations across sectors, including the EU GDPR and privacy shield, by offering services such as readiness and privacy impact assessments, data inventory and mapping automation, subject rights requests, incident reporting and vendor risk management. OneTrust raised £224.32 million of Series C funding in a deal led by TCV in December 2020.
Arrival
Post valuation: £2.71 billion
Arrival is the developer of environmentally friendly electric trucks meant to help promote the usage of pollution-free vehicles. The startup’s products include power electronics and motors made from composite material that increase efficiency and reduce the cost of operating a fleet. The company is in talks to receive £305.85 million of development capital from Blackrock Innovation Capital Group, Fidelity Management & Research, Wellington Management and BNP Paribas.
OakNorth Bank
Post valuation: £2.16 billion
Founded in 2014, OakNorth Bank is a commercial and business bank. The bank provides financing solutions to the United Kingdom’s growth businesses in the form of debt financing, property funding, capital for restructuring and recapitalization. Additionally, OakNorth offers business saving, deposit, personal saving and revolving credit facilities.
Cazoo
Post valuation: £2 billion
Cazoo is a developer of an online platform designed to make used car buying no different than buying any other product online. The company owns and fully reconditions cars before offering them for sale exclusively on its website and delivering anywhere in the UK. The company raised £240 million of Series D venture funding in a deal led by BlackRock, General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners, and Fidelity Management & Research in October 2020.
Graphcore
Post valuation: £1.9 billion
Founded in 2016, Graphcore is a Bristol-based startup that is primarily concerned with the hardware behind artificial intelligence (AI). The company is developing a next-generation computer processer to accelerate machine intelligence learning. Graphcore raised £162.4 million of Series E venture funding in a deal led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in December 2020.
Oxford Nanopore
Post valuation: £1.76 billion
Oxford Nanopore is a developer of a sequencing device designed to enable scientific researchers to research the biology of people, plants, animals, pathogens and environments. The company is planning to raise £48.03 million of financing from Amgen and completed its last round of funding in October 2020.
Rapyd
Post-valuation: £1.72 billion
Rapyd is a developer of a digital fintech-as-a-service platform designed to order cash, exchange extra foreign currency and send cash to friends. The company raised $300 million of Series D venture funding in a deal led by Coatue Management in January 2021.
Download our 2020 Annual European Venture Report to learn more. Interested in learning more about what PitchBook tracks? Check out our company data.
