The confidence of UK tech startups has remained consistence over the past quarter despite on-going Brexit uncertainty and the Conservative Party’s leadership contest, Studio Graphene’s latest Tech Tracker has revealed.
The Tech Tracker survey gathers responses from a collection of more than 100 business leaders within early stage, UK-based technology companies. Following the inaugural survey in March 2019, the quarterly initiative returned in June.
The Q2 Tech Tracker found 80% of tech startups are ‘confident’ (41%) or ‘very confident’ (39%) about their growth prospects for the coming year – this is 1% higher than Q1 2019 figure.
However, despite their confidence holding strong, the survey revealed fewer businesses are pursuing more aggressive expansion. According to the Q2 results, in the next 12 months only 73% of tech startupsplan to hire more staff (18% lower than in Q1 2019), and just 59% intend to raise finance in (-7%).
There was a slight rise in the number of startups planning to expand into new territories over the next year – the figure rose from 67% to 70% between Q1 and Q2 2019.
Elsewhere, Studio Graphene’s research found that hiring the right talent remains the biggest challenge facing tech startups in the UK right now – 54% cited this as an obstacle to growth. This was followed by increasing sales (48%), securing private investment (41%), enhancing their product (36%) and keeping pace with competitors (24%).
Looking to the political landscape, there was a largely even split between those businesses who felt the outcome of the Tory leadership would affect their growth prospects (51%) and those who did not think it would have a significant bearing on their company (49%).
Ritam Gandhi, Founder and Director of Studio Graphene, commented: “The quarterly Tech Tracker survey was designed to help us monitor the confidence of UK tech startups. And it’s positive to note the vast majority of these businesses remain optimistic about their growth prospects for the year ahead regardless of Brexit and the Hunt-Johnson showdown.
“However, the slight dip in the number of companies seeking investment or planning to hire more people should sound a warning that the on-going political and economic uncertainty is resulting in a slightly more conservative approach among some entrepreneurs. Clearly, startups need clarity on the country’s future if they are to effectively shape their own – the government must recognise otherwise both our tech startupsand the wider economy will suffer.”
Studio Graphene plans, designs and builds blank canvas technology products. Working with manystartups alongside innovation teams in more established companies, the agency plans, designs and builds astounding tech products for its clients. What’s more, Ritam and the team also use their experience and expertise to help leaders grow their business from ideation, to launch and beyond.
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