United Kingdom
London #2
London has an established position at the cutting edge of tech. Previously in Fintech, but now also AI and Healthtech. It’s critical we leverage this advantage — attract the best talent and build a supportive ecosystem.
Ecosystem by the Numbers
EARLY-STAGE FUNDING
$6 bn
GLOBAL AVG.
$687 m
ECOSYSTEM VALUE
$92 bn
GLOBAL AVG.
$28.6 bn
Edtech
The U.K.’s Edtech sector is expected to reach $4.4 billion by 2021 and current U.K. education exports total $22.8 billion annually. London has more than 500 Edtech companies and ranked #1 in Europe for early-stage funding in Edtech in 2017. A Cloud Guru, a cloud computing training platform, raised $33 million in 2019. Memrise, a language learning platform, raised $15.5 million in 2018.
Fintech
London is the second -largest financial center in the world, produced 2 Fintech unicorns in 2019, and has a financial sector employing more than one million people. In 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority launched a global Fintech regulatory sandbox after the success of a domestic sandbox that loosened financial regulations. Checkout.com, an online payments platform startup raised $230 million and became a unicorn in May 2019.
Reasons to Move Your Startup to London
COVID-19 Policy
The UK Government announced a Job Retention Scheme to pay up to 80 percent of wages for workers’ at risk of being laid off due to the pandemic. All employers in the country are eligible to apply to HMRC for payments of up to £2,500 per worker per month under this scheme.
Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
A vibrant early-stage funding environment has developed thanks to this, which provides investors up to £150,000 of their investment back in income tax relief.
Startup visa
London is the only top 5 ecosystem with a startup visa program which was launched in the spring of 2019.
Selected Startup Organizations
Accelerator Network
Balderton Capital
City of London
GEN
GSMA
KPMG
Level39
MassChallenge
Microsoft Ventures
Microsoft for Startups
Northzone
Tech London Advocates
TechUK
Techstars London
Wayra London
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