Silicon Roundabout costs are on the rise: East end property tech bubble pricing out small businesses March 4, 2015 The property tech bubble in London’s east end is pricing small businesses out of the market. Shoreditch, Clerkenwell, Aldgate and Whitechapel: over the last decade these places have become the breeding ground for media and tech start-ups, as well as larger blue-chip companies looking to grow their digital operations. However, East London’s success at [...]
The Golden Age: Octopus’s George Whitehead on an extraordinary five years for UK technology and enterprise March 1, 2015 It's been an impressive five years for the UK technology and enterprise industry. From the establishment of Tech City to the development of world-leading accelerator programmes, and the international success stories of businesses like Deep Mind, Asos, Zoopla, CSR and Shazam, it is no secret that Britain has become a leading light in entrepreneurship. DISPROPORTIONATE [...]
Austin and four other cities are better for tech businesses than London February 24, 2015 Fresh from a string of reports saying London is the best place for tech – and who are we to disagree – the capital has a rival… or five. Austin in Texas is the top city in the world for tech businesses, along with five others across the globe leaving London in a lowly sixth [...]
Property accelerator Property Innovation Labs launches £500,000 crowdfund on Seedrs February 22, 2015 A Shoreditch-based accelerator programme aimed at finding the next big technology innovations in property has today launched a £500,000 fund using crowdfunding platform Seedrs. Property Innovation Labs (Pi Labs), created by Cushman & Wakefield and venture capital firm Spire Ventures, aims to help tech start-ups shaking up the property sector by providing them with mentoring [...]
London FinTech startup WorldRemit raises $100m from Silicon Valley investors TVC and Accel Partners valuing firm at $500m February 18, 2015 WorldRemit, the London-based FinTech startup, has bagged a $100m (£65m) investment from Silicon Valley investors, valuing the firm at $500m. The series B funding round, from US venture firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), along with existing backer Accel Partners, is the latest investment in financial technology firms emerging from the capital. The $100m backing from [...]
UK tech sector set to grow four times faster than GDP this year, and strong leadership is crucial February 10, 2015 Britain's technology sector is set to grow four times faster than GDP this year, according to a survey by Barclays. By asking owners and chief executives of technology firms across the country, the bank found that on average, businesses expected a growth of 11 per cent over the course of 2015. By comparison, [...]
UK becoming a tech nation led by London boom February 4, 2015 Brits working in the digital and technology sectors now account for 7.5 per cent of the entire UK workforce, some 1.46m people. Tech is the country’s fastest-growing occupation category. Of this growth, London’s tech cluster, which itself has seen an explosive 92 per cent growth in the number of new digital companies since 2010, is the [...]
Tech firms’ confidence will help us build a UK Facebook or Google February 4, 2015 Tech City’s UK’s Tech Nation report today confirms what many of us in the tech sector have long known to be true: the UK’s digital businesses are flourishing and are set to become even more vital to our economy in the next few years. Fortune favours the brave, and we have the potential in this [...]
Government surveillance policy is having a chilling impact on UK tech firms February 2, 2015 Does the digital economy matter to this government? If this question were asked anywhere in Whitehall, the answer would be a resounding yes. After all, the government has prided itself on being the most digital friendly yet; setting up Tech City, pouring in millions of pounds of investment, and leading on a digital-by-default agenda. [...]
London is home to Europe’s hottest FinTech startups as 24 of the FinTech50 come from the capital February 2, 2015 London once again dominates in a new list of the hottest European FinTech startups as the capital continues to put its backing behind the sector’s growth. Businesses from the capital represent almost half of those chosen as the FinTech companies to watch in 2015 by a panel of senior executives from across the world of finance, [...]