WeWork launches shared office space for start-ups at Moorgate July 1, 2015 A US COMPANY that provides flexible workspace to start-ups is hoping to tap into demand among London’s thriving tech community after launching a new site near Moorgate station today. WeWork has taken eight floors at Brookfield’s Moorgate Exchange, its fourth location in the UK after opening in Sea Containers House, Soho and Devonshire Square over [...]
Investec Comment: Asset finance for startups: How it can help June 28, 2015 MUCH of the discussion about small business finance focuses on the very early stages of a company’s life. Will a bank lend the money it needs for its initial stages of growth? If not, what other options does that firm have? What can be done to make it easier for very new companies to borrow? [...]
Don’t write off startups as a threat to your company: Collaboration benefits all June 25, 2015 Digital disruption is snapping at the heels of London’s corporates. Many are only just waking up to the fact that tech startups like Zoopla, Skype and Funding Circle – all less than 10 years old and bred in the capital – have become billion dollar “unicorn” companies, rewriting the rules of whole industries. In [...]
London FinTech startup Currency Cloud raises $18m series C funding from Rakuten, Sapphire Ventures and other investors June 23, 2015 One of London’s FinTech stars has landed a new round of funding as investors scramble for a piece of London’s booming financial technology sector. Currency Cloud has landed $18m (around £12m) from investors, including ecommerce giant Rakuten, in its latest funding round, just a week after London cemented its status as the tech capital of [...]
Britain’s hottest startups grew six times the rate of UK businesses June 19, 2015 Britain’s hottest startups are fuelling economic growth and job creation, growing at six times the rate of the rest of the UK’s businesses. The Future Fifty, a group of the country’s brightest and most promising high-growth tech businesses identified by Tech City UK, increased their workforce by 30 per cent in the last year, compared [...]
Five FinTech startups to watch: RBS, Lloyds and American Express back finance innovation June 17, 2015 Five tech startups seeking to disrupt the financial industry have caught the eye of some of the world's leading firms in the sector. A savings app, a company using visual cryptography to create secure passwords and a real-time sales platform for local businesses are just three of the winners in the search for startups creating [...]
London’s getting an insurance tech accelerator as Startupbootcamp expands FinTech startup search June 16, 2015 A new global tech accelerator has been launched London which will search for tech companies around the world which can bring new innovation to the traditional world of insurance and its well-established companies. As FinTech takes off in the capital like never before, tech accelerator Startupbootcamp has added the new sector to its roster to [...]
London Technology Week: The hunt for London’s unicorn tech startups June 15, 2015 There's no doubting the impressive numbers rolling out of London Tech Week. There’s also no lack of people willing to shout about these impressive feats, whether it be entrepreneurs, investors, economists, or the mayor himself. More than a dozen of London’s tech types today gathered near the summit of the Shard to kick off London [...]
Start it in your late 30s, and keep your founding team in place: How to create a $1bn tech startup “unicorn” – and why London has created eight in the past year June 15, 2015 Want to own a $1bn (£644m) tech firm (yep, us too)? Get some experience, and start the business when you're in your late 30s, new research has suggested. The research, by investment banking firm GP Bullhound to mark London Tech Week, provides a step-by-step guide to getting that $1bn tech "unicorn" off the ground. Here's [...]
Flexible jobs market helps UK startups as more British businesses survive first year June 9, 2015 New British businesses are more likely than European firms to survive their first year, consultancy Rousseau Associates said yesterday, as rules on hiring and firing staff are more flexible. Of the 234,000 firms launched in Britain in 2011, 93 per cent lasted at least one year. By contrast only 83 per cent of those in [...]