As science and technology become increasingly important in solving global problems, some influential technology startups in the UK, which were set up to provide solutions to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals, have raised 2 billion pounds for investment this year. Analysis released by the UK Digital Economy Council shows that influence investment in the UK has increased by 127% since 2018. The UK now has 12 influential unicorns. In addition, there are currently 22 quasi-unicorn high-growth enterprises, which are expected to develop into unicorns in the next few years, including alternative protein technology, energy technology, health insurance and other fields. Influential investments are growing globally, and investors are keen to support companies that can produce positive social and environmental impacts as well as financial returns. In the UK, there are now nearly 900 influential startups and enterprises of a certain scale using technologies such as artificial intelligence, deep technology, big data and blockchain to develop next-generation solutions to deal with global issues such as climate change, health and food security. The companies are worth 50 billion ponds in total and have created more than 35,000 jobs. 

Much of the influential fund’s money have gone to companies that create affordable clean energy and tackle the climate crisis. Overall, climate technology companies account for 65% of enterprises in influence areas. As well as climate technology, the UK’s influence startups are focused on tackling global health issues. Benevolent AI, for example, is the UK’s leading health impact company, which uses big data and deep learning to discover more effective drugs, and recently discovered a Covid-19 treatment that has been approved by US health care regulators. There are also Huma, a health technology company that uses big data, which supports remote patient monitoring to reduce readmission rates, and Cera, an app that helps families provide proper care for loved ones.