London is Europe’s top startup city

​Easy Offices, one of the UK’s leading serviced office space brokers, recently published an in-depth investigation into the UK’s growing entrepreneurial empire.

As part of their research, the company found that London is holding steady as Europe’s leading startup economy, despite uncertainty around the ramifications of the Brexit vote:

• London remains Europe’s capital for fast-growing companies — ahead of Paris, Milan, and Berlin
• London has more 'unicorns' (billion-dollar startups) than any other European city
• 326,000 startup companies in London employ nearly 1.9 million people
• 2017 saw £5.3 billion invested in startups in London alone
• The city’s vibrant startup scene is especially supported by a strong creative cluster around ‘Silicon Roundabout’ (the high concentration of technology businesses and startups in East London)

Although opportunities for startups in London are ample, they do come at a cost. London’s tech startups, for example, have the highest startup costs in the world, and West London in particular is home to some of the world’s most expensive commercial real estate.

For those needing a more cost-effective option in London, co-working spaces tend to be far more affordable than traditional alternatives. Co-working spaces in Shoreditch, for example, were found to be 57% cheaper on average to rent than traditional office space5.

Not surprisingly, the cost of office space is also much lower in UK cities other than London:



City
Average cost per square foot per month

London
£52.50

Manchester
£34

Belfast
£6.82

Edinburgh
£3.45

Brighton
£3.38

UK’s tech startups are leading the way for Europe
Research collated by Easy Offices also reveals that the United Kingdom’s tech startup scene is rapidly on the rise:

• UK tech companies attracted double the amount of venture capital financing than those based in any other European country in 2017
• In 2017, UK tech startups received £2.99 billion – almost double the total amount invested in 20168
• UK businesses attracted almost four times more funding in 2017 than Germany and more than France, Ireland and Sweden combined8

The UK’s GEI (Global Entrepreneurial Index) score increased from 67.7 in 2016 to 77.8 in 2018, and it is now ranked fourth out of 137 countries globally for entrepreneurial opportunities. The UK’s strongest area is technology absorption, meaning the entrepreneurial landscape is rapidly embracing new technologies in business.

The UK as a whole also provides the right conditions for entrepreneurial growth in tech with programs like the TechCity Upscale Programme – designed to help startups transition into scaleups.

Widely successful UK-based startups like online money transfer service TransferWise and games tech company Improbable – which each received hundreds of millions of US dollars in funding last year – are testament to the fact that the UK is levelling up against some of the world’s biggest startup hubs like Silicon Valley in the US.

Looking forward, it’s also estimated that startups will inject a impressive $460 billion into the UK economy, if local startup growth continues along the same trajectory for the next two-to-three years6.

Easy Offices’ sales director, Andrew Hogan is looking forward to seeing the UK startup scene continue to thrive.

“Our research shows that the UK startup scene at the start of 2018 is performing very strongly indeed. With 2017 a year of record investment, it is with huge excitement that we await news on how these companies perform in the year ahead.”