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By Michael Moore
London’s status as one of the world’s major technology hubs has been highlighted by new findings that show it netted a huge amount of investment this year.
Data from London & Partners has said that London’s technology firms have so far received £1bn in funding, including £320m in venture capital investment in the past three months.
This investment marks nearly three-quarters of the U.K. total of £1.4bn, which makes 2015 the most successful year yet, eclipsing last year’s figure of £1.3bn, and coming in at over 10 times more investment in 2015 than in 2010.
Booming
London & Partners, which acts on behalf of the Mayor of London regarding investment and expansion, says that it helped 270 international companies establish their businesses in London in the last financial year, with the tech sector seeing the most number of investments, representing 40 percent of all companies investing the capital.
The firm was keen to promote the success of London’s e-commerce start-ups in securing major funding recently, particularly the likes of Deliveroo (£45m), MADE.com (£39m), Secret Escapes (£39m) and Prodigy Finance (£12.7m) which together have raised a combined amount of £160m, half of the total amount raised in London this quarter.
According to separate research by professional services firm EY, more than 1,000 international tech investment projects were located in London between 2005-2014, significantly more than the next most attractive city, Paris (381).
“As a global financial and technology powerhouse, it is no surprise to see that the capital is the jewel in the crown when it comes to venture capital investment in the U.K. tech sector,” said Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
“With record investment helping companies to flourish, access to top tech talent, world class universities and great transport links, there has arguably never been a better time to start, grow and scale a digital business in London.”