If you want to know where UK early-stage money is actually going, the question splits in two. There's the broad sweep of every tax-relieved round, which HMRC counts, and there's the narrower behaviour of angels themselves, which the British Business Bank now tracks. They don't point in quite the same direction, and the gap is the interesting part.
This page is the sector cut. For the headline EIS and SEIS totals, the companion piece on the 2024-25 statistics already does that job. Here we line up three official-leaning sources, HMRC, the British Business Bank and KPMG, and read where the capital flowed by sector in 2026. It describes the market. It does not tell you where to put your money.
Where the money goes is information. It is not a signal about where yours should.
What the official data says first
Software and information businesses take the largest single share of UK tax-relieved investment. In HMRC's EIS and SEIS statistics for 2024-25 (published 21 May 2026), Information & Communication, the bucket that holds most software and AI companies, drew 35% of all EIS investment and 42% of SEIS. At both stages it is the biggest sector by some distance.
The scale underneath those percentages: EIS companies raised £1,575m across the year, broadly flat, with about £550m of it going to Information & Communication. SEIS, the seed-end scheme, raised £276m (up 14%), and roughly £115m of that landed in the same sector.
HMRC is the most official source you can cite here. It counts compliance statements from companies that actually raised under the schemes, so it is the closest thing to a full-market record of where relief-backed money went. It tells you the share. It does not tell you whether those rounds will pay off.
Where angels specifically are leaning
Angels as a group tilt somewhat differently from the headline. The British Business Bank's Small Business Equity Tracker 2025 reports angel money leaning toward life sciences and energy, even while the broad market concentrates in software and AI. It's a meaningful distinction: the HMRC totals include funds and other equity backers, whereas the Bank's read isolates angel behaviour.
The Bank also found 49% of its supported deals were technology or IP-based, and that 70% of angels invest at the early stage. So the picture is twofold. Most of the money flows to software and information businesses, and a recognisable slice of angels is putting cheques into deep-science and energy companies that take longer to mature and tend to need patient capital.
Worth a footnote on who's writing the cheques: the Bank found 26% of angel-backed companies were female-led in its 2024 read, up from 12% in 2019. That isn't a sector, but it moves alongside one, since life sciences and consumer health attract a broader founder base than pure enterprise software.
The very top of the market
At the largest end, the 2026 numbers are dominated by AI and a short list of names. KPMG's Venture Pulse read for Q1 2026 put UK startup funding at £7.2bn, the strongest quarter since mid-2022, with about 85% of it raised in London (roughly £6.1bn). A few megadeals carried much of that total: Nscale in AI infrastructure (£1.48bn), Wayve in autonomous vehicles (£1.1bn), Kraken in energy (£744m) and Roark in defence (£232m).
For an angel, the lesson from the top of the market is mostly about what it doesn't mean. A £1.48bn AI-infrastructure round and a £25,000 SEIS cheque are not the same activity, and the headline being AI-heavy doesn't make AI the right call for a small, early ticket. The concentration tells you where the largest pools of growth capital are forming. It says little about which seed company in front of you is fairly priced. The related question of whether AI seed rounds are running hot gets its own treatment in the bubble piece.
The geography that comes with the sector
Read a sector map of UK angel money and you are partly reading a regional one. HMRC's 2024-25 figures show London and the South East taking 60% of EIS investment (£948m) and 66% of SEIS (£181m). KPMG's London share at the megadeal end (about 85%) is steeper still, because the biggest growth rounds cluster hardest around the capital.
Why the two move together: the software and AI companies that dominate the sector totals are concentrated where the engineering talent, the universities and the later-stage funds sit, and in the UK that remains the South East corridor. University spinouts alone raised £1.9bn in 2024, about 17% of all UK equity investment, and those cluster around a small number of research cities.
The regional balance is shifting, but slowly, and it has its own analysis in the regional-rebalancing piece. For sector-reading purposes, the point is just that 'which sector' and 'which region' are nearly the same question at this stage of the market.
Reading the flow without chasing it
One thing this page is not: a list of sectors to get into. Where capital flows is a description of what other people did, not a recommendation for what you should do. Sectors run hot and cold, and the hot ones are where prices have already moved, which is the opposite of an edge. A crowded sector can be the right place for a particular founder and the wrong place for a generic cheque.
What the official data is good for is calibration: knowing that Information & Communication takes the largest share, that angels specifically lean toward life sciences and energy, and that the money is concentrated in London helps you read a deal in context rather than in a vacuum. It is one input, not a steer. For what else moved this year, see the 2026 round-up. Confirm the current sector figures at HMRC and the British Business Bank, and take FCA-regulated advice before you commit capital.
Frequently asked questions
What sectors do UK angels invest in most?
Software and information businesses lead the official data. Information and Communication, the bucket holding most software and AI companies, took 35% of all EIS investment and 42% of SEIS in 2024-25, per HMRC. The British Business Bank reports that angels specifically also lean toward life sciences and energy. Both figures are dated and should be confirmed at the source.
Where is most UK startup funding going in 2026?
Heavily into AI and software, and heavily into London. KPMG put Q1 2026 UK startup funding at £7.2bn, about 85% of it raised in London, carried by AI, autonomous-vehicle, energy and defence megadeals. HMRC's EIS and SEIS data shows the same concentration at the early stage, with Information and Communication the largest sector and London plus the South East taking the majority of relief-backed money.
Are UK angels moving away from London?
The data still shows London and the South East dominant. HMRC's 2024-25 figures put 60% of EIS investment and 66% of SEIS in those two regions. The regional shift toward other UK clusters is real but gradual, and it has its own dedicated analysis in the regional-rebalancing piece.
Should I follow the money into a hot sector?
Where capital flows is information, not a recommendation. This page describes which sectors took the most UK early-stage money; it does not tell you where to put yours. Hot sectors are where prices have already moved, which is not an edge, and a sector that suits one founder can be wrong for a generic cheque. Whether any sector fits your situation is a decision for you and an FCA-regulated adviser.
Where do these sector figures come from?
Three sources. HMRC's EIS and SEIS statistics for 2024-25, published on GOV.UK on 21 May 2026, give the official sector and regional split of relief-backed investment. The British Business Bank's Small Business Equity Tracker 2025 gives the angel-specific tilt toward life sciences and energy. KPMG's Venture Pulse gives the Q1 2026 megadeal picture. HMRC and the Bank are the official UK sources; KPMG is supporting colour.