London has cemented its position as a global tech hub with more unicorns than any other city in Europe, a report has found, with signs many more innovative businesses are on the way.
The UK now has 64 unicorns – companies worth more than $1 billion – about a quarter more than Germany and almost double the number in France, with the lion’s share based in London, according to data from venture capital firm Accel.
Between them, four of London’s top tech firms – Revolut, Monzo, Wise and Deliveroo -- have spawned over 100 startups, founded by current or former employees of the company, in signs the capital’s tech ecosystem has sparked a virtuous circle of greater and greater numbers of tech businesses.
Europe as a whole created ten new unicorns in 2023, a significant drop on last year’s 79 as venture capitalists set tighter conditions on investment rounds amid high inflation and sluggish economic growth. But the total number of European unicorns only rose by three to 358 after a number of firms surrendered their unicorn status following a fall in valuations in fresh funding rounds.
Harry Nelis, partner at Accel, told the Standard London’s ability to attract global talent was key to its success in tech.
“We compete for talent on the global talent market and look for deep engineering or product skills. These people are often located in Silicon Valley and are English speaking – it’s harder to convince them to move to Munich and Berlin…so it’s easier to build a big company in London.
“But making it harder for college graduates to stay here is not that conducive to having a fluid labour market….anything the government does to restrict access greatly impacts these businesses.”
