Britain’s successful startups are surprisingly scattered

ONE OF THE highlights of a visit to the royal palace at Stirling Castle is a series of seven tapestries depicting the “Hunt of the Unicorn”, recreated from a set woven in the 16th century. For now, they outnumber modern unicorns—startups worth more than $1bn—born in Scotland. But not, perhaps, for long.

Unicorns are now common around the world. Compared with its European neighbours, though, Britain is especially good at rearing them. Since 1989 it has generated more than France, Germany and Sweden combined, according to Tech Nation, a growth platform for British tech firms, and Dealroom, a data provider. And despite the usual weighting towards London, Britain’s 99 unicorns are more scattered, from Horsham and Hatfield to Sheffield and Solihull (see map). Of France’s 24, meanwhile, 22 are based in or around Paris (the remaining pair are in Grenoble and Lille).

Several factors lie behind Britain’s fecundity. Its universities produce the sort of graduates tech...