United Kingdom sees the bulk of European VC activity in H1

Brexit who? The United Kingdom continues to trailblaze the European VC market in regards to deal count and the amount of invested capital.

The U.K. clocked a 99.8 percent year-over-year growth rate from H1 2018 to H1 2019 regarding the volume of invested capital, according to a report released by Refinitiv. More than €4.25 billion ($4.6 billion) flowed into the region during those six months.

Despite a 7 percent decline in overall VC deal count in Europe, the U.K. saw a modest 3.9 percent increase in deals from 258 in H1 2018 to 268 in the first half of 2019.

Three of the five largest European deals closed in the U.K. Satellite internet company OneWeb raised €1.1 billion. Deliveroo, a food delivery app, collected more than €515 million in its Series G founding round. Fintech platform TransferWise raked in more than €261 million in its latest funding.

London saw the most activity in the bustling region and closed more than half of the deals, 150, and 80 percent of the U.K.’s invested capital. The average deal size in the city was €26.5 million.

Four of the most active European VC firms investing in the continent are based in the UK including Merica Fund Managers, Balderton Capital and Index Ventures.

One U.S.-based firm made the list of top 10 most active investors in Europe. Accel, which is a previous backer of Deliveroo, landed at number eight having invested more than €88.6 million across 11 deals in H1.

Fundraising totals across all of Europe were down in H1 2019 from H1 2018 after a slower first quarter. More than €4.7 billion was raised in H1 2019, €1.7 billion was collected in the first quarter and €3 billion during the second. H1 2018 collected €4.9 billion.

France had the second most active VC market in Europe in H1 2019. Startups in the country received more than €2.2 billion across 178 deals. The amount of capital invested was up 58.2 percent year-over-year despite the deal count being down 14.8 percent.