Lights installation are seen in the financial district of Canary Wharf as part of the WInter Lights festival, London on January 15, 2019.

Investment in the U.K.'s technology sector grew at a faster pace than in the U.S. and China last year, according to new research released Wednesday.

Venture capital funding for British start-ups grew 44% to a record $13.2 billion in 2019, a report prepared for the government by industry group Tech Nation and research firm Dealroom said.

By contrast, Dealroom's figures show that investment in U.S. and Chinese tech firms actually slowed from January to December, with the U.S. seeing a 20% decline and China a steeper fall of 65%. The U.S. and China still came out on top in terms of total deal value, however, attracting $116 billion and $33.5 billion respectively.

The stats showed that nearly half of the total amount invested in U.K. tech came from U.S. and Asian investors. Last year, foreign investors flocked to the U.K. and Europe in search of cheaper valuations amid growing interest in burgeoning areas like fintech. Start-ups like challenger bank Monzo and online payments firm Klarna attracted huge nine-figure deals led by U.S. investors.

But fintech wasn't the only sector seeing significant growth. Emerging industries like artificial intelligence, so-called "deep tech" and clean energy also saw huge inflows. Health firm Benevolent AI raised $90 million and virtual reality company Melody raised $60 million, while in energy Ovo raised $260 million from investors.

"The U.K. and Europe quite frankly have over the last 20 years mainly seen on the sidelines of the global tech economy," Saul Klein, co-founder of early stage venture fund LocalGlobe, told CNBC in an interview. "It's taken about 20 years to get here and the data now supports that the U.K. is a major global tech player."