Quotas on immigration would be a disaster for London’s tech startups November 12, 2014 Political debates over the benefits and drawbacks of immigration will no doubt rage on for years to come. But while the opposing sides pick apart the evidence over the impact of migrants on the public purse, one thing is clear: London’s tech ecosystem faces a very significant skills shortage. Government should be doing all it [...]
London tech startups attract $200m Singapore venture capital fund Infocomm October 21, 2014 Singapore venture capital fund Infocomm is setting up shop in the capital, bringing its $200m (£124m) fund to startups in London and the rest of Europe for the first time. The move was spurred by the momentum in the capital's tech sector and the new outpost makes permanent an 18 month “commuter relationship” with the city, [...]
Techcrunch Disrupt: Let the (tech startup) battle commence October 20, 2014 European tech startups, including two teams from London, went head-to-head yesterday in the first round of a battle at Disrupt, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest annual tech conferences, which is currently in London for the first time. London startups Lobster – an online marketplace for regular people to licence their photos and videos – [...]
Interview: Editor-at-large of Techcrunch Mike Butcher October 20, 2014 Mike Butcher believes that London’s tech scene has the ability not only to compete with the likes of Berlin and Stockholm, but to rival Silicon Valley. As editor-at-large of technology blog Techcrunch, Butcher has seen the capital’s tech hub around the so-called Silicon Roundabout at Old Street mature into a developed community, large enough to [...]
Fintech kings talk starting from scratch, old clients and handing businesses a lifeline October 12, 2014 In Holborn last week, a three year-old London-based company held a party to celebrate reaching £250m of business since its inception. If that doesn’t sound impressive, by the time the event was held, MarketInvoice was already nearing £270m. “We seriously underestimated repeat usage,” says co-founder and chief executive Anil Stocker. “Companies see how the platform [...]
London’s tech firms raise record $1bn of venture capital investment October 5, 2014 London tech firms attracted a record $1bn (£626m) of venture capital investment in just the first nine months of 2014. The mammoth figure is more than 10 times what tech groups raised from venture capital firms (VCs) in the whole of 2010. Fundraising in London’s tech sector is currently up over 30 per cent on [...]
London’s tech boom is more than just hype – and the City is at its heart September 18, 2014 WHILE London Technology Week may not yet rival London Fashion Week for glamour, there is real substance to the capital’s tech boom. This is why, for the first time, TechCrunch is bringing its Silicon Valley conference to London this October. A number of things are driving this tech boom. London has long acted as a [...]
Cubicle to co-working space: London startups want to poach City workers September 5, 2014 More than 30 of London’s tech startups are looking to hire City workers away from their corporate cubicles to the world of beanbags and co-working spaces. Startup hiring conference Uncubed is hosting its first event in London, playing matchmaker between talent in traditional corporate jobs and creative technology companies, and urging people to ditch their [...]
Why I left the City for a startup – and why you should too September 5, 2014 If there’s a reason I left my finance career to build startups it’s probably this: vomit. It happened one night at 10 or 11pm on the 33rd floor of a gleaming investment bank. It wasn’t unusual that I was there so late – in fact, it was mostly the norm, and I’d been run haggard [...]
The Startup Manifesto: Why the digital economy has never been a bigger political issue September 3, 2014 The UK’s digital startups are thriving – we have the fastest-growing digital economy in the G20 and have created 11 tech companies worth over $1bn in the last decade. British digital successes like Zoopla, Shazam and YPlan are now household names, and in London alone the tech sector is forecast to create 46,000 jobs and [...]