Edinburgh named as one of the UK’s leading tech cities

Edinburgh has been named as a UK’s leading tech cities in the UK thanks to its combination of high levels of VC funding, available tech job, advertised tech salaries, number of current and future high-growth tech companies, according to new analysis for the UK’s Digital Economy Council.

Rewarding skilled tech talents

In Edinburgh, skilled tech talent can see job offers with salaries averaging £58,405 for a new role. This is the highest in the UK outside of London and the South East. There are now over 2,000 tech job vacancies in the city, an increase of 85% since last year.

Sandy McKinnon, Partner at Pentech Ventures, said:

“Edinburgh has steadily been growing as a tech hub over the past few years and this list recognises that. The combination of world-class universities, established IT businesses and unicorns like Skyscanner and FanDuel means there is a lot of exciting talent and innovation in the city. We’re seeing this with newcomers like TravelNest, Desana, Amiqus, Biomage and many others that are disrupting traditional industries - there really is so much potential around the city.”

Investment

Tech companies in Edinburgh have raised £117 million through 47 venture rounds, the second highest number of rounds in the UK. These include health tech Current Health (£32.5), foodtech Parsley Box (£17m), and tidal energy company Nova Innovation (£6.4m).

30% of new unicorns created this year I the UK are established outside of London, including Interactive Investor in Glasgow.

Digital Minister Chris Philp said:

“It’s brilliant to see Edinburgh ranking in the top five regional cities for UK tech, with innovative Scottish startups helping tackle some of the world's major challenges.

"Capitalising on this brilliant growth across the whole of the UK is part of our mission to level up and we are supporting Scottish companies with pro-innovation policies to help people and get the skills they need."

Levelling Up Power Tech League 2021:

1. Cambridge

2. Manchester

3. Oxford

4. Edinburgh

5. Bristol

6. Leeds

7. Birmingham

8. Newcastle

9. Cardiff

10. Belfast

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