Norwich's tech revolution was turbo-charged in the year the economy shut down with the city attracting £33m in venture capitalist investment in 2020 compared to £8.3m in 2019.

This places Norwich as the 12th most popular hub for VC investment in the UK - behind the likes of London, Cambridge and Oxford.

But the city has the potential to move up that ranking and attract more funds in the years to come, according to Tim Robinson, chief operations officer for Tech East.

He said the news reflects "the rapid maturing of Norwich as a UK tech cluster".

He added: "Investors are attracted to founders and teams with great products that solve real customer problems, in big, fast-growing markets.

"Those founders need a supportive ecosystem of mentors and peers, access to talent and finance and a supportive tech community.

"Norwich has consistently demonstrated that it is serious about cultivating all these elements whether through its two Universities, through its wide range of meetup groups, through Angel investor networks or a rapidly strengthening peer-to-peer business ecosystem as well as organisations like Tech East and the Cambridge Norwich Tech Corridor."

And with rafts of start-ups yet to raise investment the city is set for more, he added.

"The key is for Norwich to continue to help entrepreneurs and founders with a level of focused and ‘in good-faith’ supportiveness that is arguably unrivalled in the UK for a compact city outside Oxbridge," he said.

The city will also be supported by a new tech hub as well as City College Norwich's Digitech Factory.

Specialist Airbnb insurance provider Pikl was one of the businesses which launched a successful funding round in 2020, with founder Louise Birritteri saying: "Norwich in particular is a hotbed for tech development, with highly skilled people here who have honed their skills and are keen to drive rapid improvements in customer experiences using tech. The region also provides a great quality of life for people living here.

"Insurtech and Fintech are rapidly growing in the East of England and so investors and Government should be looking this ways to help accelerate this onto a global stage. "

A host of other businesses which secured funds are based at Norwich Research Park.

Chief executive David Parfrey said: “Our community is fostering and nurturing fledgling businesses, putting in place the infrastructure and support to help them grow into mature successful companies that will continue to build Norwich Research Park’s global profile as the best place to be for organisations whose business is based on the science behind food, health and climate change."