A Summary of the UK's High-Growth Quantum Technology Companies

While the UK’s quantum sector is still nascent, there’s an exciting group of companies across the country securing record public and private funding to support their growth. In July 2023, we released our report “Decrypting the UK’s High-Growth Quantum Technology Companies” in collaboration with Barclay Eagle Labs, highlighting the top sub-sectors, investors and funding trends.

Below is a summary of key findings from the report. You can read the full report for more details and analysis.

Key findings

• The UK has 51 active, high-growth quantum technology companies, primarily concentrated in the South East of England, particularly around the "Golden Triangle" of Cambridge, London, and Oxford.
• A significant portion of these companies (47.1%) are academic spinouts, often based near their originating institutions to access facilities and support services.
• In 2022, these companies secured a record £98.9m in equity investment via 21 deals, surpassing the previous record of £86.5m via 23 deals secured in 2020.
• 2022 was also a record year for the total value of grant funding secured by quantum technology companies, with £24.8m won via 54 awards.

Quantum in the UK

Quantum computing employs qubits—quantum bits capable of existing in multiple states simultaneously, enabling parallel processing and offering exponential speed advantages over classical computers. The UK’s quantum ecosystem holds great promise and potential. Continued advancements in techniques, scalability, and integration are pivotal in overcoming technical challenges and facilitating the widespread adoption of quantum computing.

The UK has close collaboration between universities, research networks and quantum companies, giving it a strong position in the global quantum race. The UK government has committed to quantum technologies through the National Quantum Strategy, further amplifying the industry’s growth trajectory.

Business Demography

High-growth quantum companies are concentrated in the South East, where eight quantum technology companies have spun out of the University of Oxford. Other academic hubs of London and Cambridge mean the ‘Golden Triangle’ is home to over half of the UK’s high-growth quantum companies.

The top sub-sectors for quantum companies include digital security services, AI and analytics. Take a look at our full report to find out the other subsectors companies are operating in.

Gender diversity is low among founders, with just 5.26% of high-growth quantum companies having female-only founding teams. Age of founders is well-distributed, while nationality is strongly skewed to the UK at 73.7%.

Nearly half of quantum companies are academic spinouts, with spinouts from the University of Oxford having secured the most equity finance (£164m), accounting for 76.6% of the total funds raised by all quantum spinouts in the UK.

Funding and innovation

Public funding plays a key role in the quantum sector, with grant funding providing £24.8m in 2022. Innovate UK provided 53 grants worth £22.6m, accounting for 91.1% of grant funding.

As well as public funding, the UK’s active, high-growth quantum technology companies secured a record £98.9m in equity investment in 2022 via 21 deals.

There has been a significant increase in patent applications by quantum companies over the past decade. In 2016, 12 out of 19 published patent applications were granted (63.2%). In 2020, there was a surge in patent applications, reaching a total of 100. However, only nine have been granted to date (9.00%).