The experts have crunched the numbers and the results are in: London continues to be the startup capital of Europe, and one of the best places on Earth to launch a startup. According to Growth Business, London receives the lion’s share of all startup funding in Europe, with tech startups alone raising $26 billion last year, far outstripping its closest European competitors in Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm.
In the UK as a whole, there are now a record 122 “unicorn” startups worth more than $1 billion, with the vast majority of these being headquartered in the London region. If you’re still not sold, read on to find out exactly why London should be the home of your next startup
A hub for tech
Talent and resources are central to London’s success as a tech startup Mecca. Many of the most important and prestigious startup events on the planet take place in the city every year, providing ample opportunities for founders to network and secure the funding that they need to grow.
To list just one recent example, the city just hosted UK Tech Week, a showcase of the tech industry across the country. In attendance were all of the leading lights of the tech world, including Meta, Amazon, Accenture, Visa, Dell, Google, and Tik Tok, to name just a few. Few other cities in the world offer this level of access.
Access to money
You can’t have a successful tech startup without money. Fortunately, London has you covered on this front too. There are countless angel investment networks, crowdfunding platforms and VC firms pumping capital into the city’s startups, which exceeds that of just about any other place in the world apart from Silicon Valley. London’s thriving startup scene is full of networks, support and innovative services that make accessing this financing and closing investments quite straightforward. One such example is
the Holborn-based company SeedLegals that helps startups of all stripes seamlessly navigate the legal side of funding. Their software automates the legal documentation needed to do funding rounds, issue shares to investors, manage cap tables and much more. The once-complicated apsects of raising startup funding is becoming simpler and more accessible.With services like this at your fingertips, getting your startup off the ground is easier than ever.
Talent at your fingertips
London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with talented people from every corner of the globe coming here to make their career dreams a reality. It’s also home to several of the world’s leading universities, with the likes of UCL and Imperial training some of the best graduates out there in AI, data science, and cybersecurity. That leaves you spoilt for choice when it comes to finding talent to make your startup thrive. . The city is arguably the largest hub for tech talent in Europe, if not the world. As the Evening Standard reports, there are around one million skilled tech workers in London alone, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding the right people for your team.
No matter the shape or size of your tech startup, London is the perfect launchpad. For money, resources, and people, the UK capital is the place to be.
