London remains Europe’s technological hub for investment despite concerns over Brexit, according to new research.
According to London & Partners, which is the promotional agency associated with the Mayor of London, the capital is still attracting record numbers of technological investment.
In the first half of 2017, private equity investment in the capital’s tech sector hit £4.5 billion. Similarly, venture capital invested £1.1 billion across London’s tech firms during the period.
“The Brexit vote has understandably created some uncertainty, but it is no surprise to see that London continues to attract more than double the amount of investment [of] any other European city,” said Laura Citron, chief executive of London & Partners.
“We have everything companies need to be successful: policymakers, finance, infrastructure, world-class universities and talent.”
Moreover, London & Partners found that the UK capital attracted more venture capital investment than any other city in Europe since the June referendum, including Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam.
In total, it recorded that London had welcomed £1.8 billion in venture capital funding over 544 deals in the tech sector since the Brexit vote last year.
Conversely, Berlin, the second most popular location for European venture capital tech investment, had received a smaller £775 million across 136 deals, London & Partners said.
Improbable, a tech firm using “large-scale simulations in the cloud, enabling virtual worlds of unprecedented scale and complexity”, is one of the London-based firms to have benefited this year.
During the first half of the year, the company welcomed a investment of £388 million.
Improbable’s chief executive, Herman Narula, echoed the findings on the strengths of London’s tech industry, stating:
“For a technology business looking to raise growth capital and scale, investment can come from anywhere in the world, but London is a great place to be located.
“London provides access to the UK’s tremendous tech talent, and is also an attractive place to work for the global talent vital to growing a tech business.”