China among leaders for tech investment

New report reveals nation is a strong contender in high-growth scale-up deals

China has become a major player in global technology development and the 50 billion pounds ($63 billion) it attracted from around the world between 2015 and 2018 places it second, globally, in terms of attracting high-growth investment, according to a new study.

The annual Tech Nation report by Tech Nation, a leading scale-up network for United Kingdom entrepreneurs, notes that the United States remains in a dominant position, having attracted 121 billion pounds in high-growth investment during the same period. India was in third position and the UK fourth.

The report says more than 245 billion pounds in scale-up investment was raised globally during the period.

The 49.9 billion pounds the Chinese scale-ups attracted during the four-year period was 20.4 percent of the global total.

UK companies attracted 12.6 billion pounds, which was 5.2 percent of the global total. London led the way in the UK, drawing in 9 billion pounds. Cambridge was the second most-successful UK city, attracting 583 million pounds and other cities, including Newcastle and Cardif , followed.

China, the world's second-largest economy, attracted a large number of technology talents and employed 19 percent of the world's high-growth technology workers. The US employs 35 percent and Britain employs 5 percent. Japan, France and Indonesia followed.

In the UK, insurtech and fintech topped the rankings for employment numbers among scale-up digital technology companies in 2018.

The report said the total venture capital investment in UK technology in 2018 topped 6 billion pounds, which was more than any other European country.

"The findings from the 2019 Tech Nation report has revealed that China is a strong contender in global tech developments," said Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech Nation. "Looking at global investment, China attracted 50 billion pounds in high-growth scale-up investment between 2015 and 2018, placing it second in the world in this regard."

Grech said he was "delighted to see how strongly the UK is performing in this global context".

"As global connections continue to become even more important for the health of the global economy, there is a responsibility for us to understand how best we can engage with global collaborators, investors and partners," he said.

The Tech Nation report also looked into collaboration and networking within the global technology ecosystem by using data from meetup.com. Tech Nation said the data allowed it to "take a lens to these human networks, understanding the places, people and themes that are defining the evolution of tech".

The report found that China has shown a huge interest in entrepreneurship, 29 percent verses the global average of 17 percent showing an interest, with particularly strong sentiment in Shanghai and Beijing.

Beijing and Hangzhou have a greater interest in data science compared to software development, the report added.

The UK is third in the world in terms of online collaborators, behind only the US and Germany.