London is a great destination for aspiring entrepreneurs. No wonder this city is called "the financial capital of the world" - here every second business is growing by leaps and bounds.
Startups have become a whole industry, a huge investment sector. Interest in this will not fade away but only grow, as in everything new like modern ideas of authors and founders of companies.
But in order to understand the full picture, it must be said that according to statistics, 70% of startups stop working in the first year, and only 5-10% of companies become successful.
But it is this 5-10 % that gives a huge profit to their investors, which can easily cover the losses of unsuccessful investments.
London Startup Scene
Moreover, it is crucial to launch a company in the right place. One of the greatest examples of such a territory would be London.
Why exactly this city? What are the benefits and advantages of the London startup scene? See further in this article!
According to a 2017 StartupGenome study, London ranks third among the world's startup ecosystems (in total, researchers analyzed 55 ecosystems in 28 cities). Ahead is only Silicon Valley and New York.
London is the fourth largest ecosystem in the world for the number of startups. It includes 4300-5900 active companies, which is several times more than on the Tel Aviv startup scene (2200-2700) and Berlin (1800-2400). In 2016, it hosted 22 thousand meetups for startups - three times more than in any other European city.
In 2016, according to the then mayor of London, Boris Johnson, 528 thousand people were employed in the startup industry in the British capital, that is, every sixth resident. The average salary in a startup is £61.8 thousand per year.
The city boasts high-profile success stories. For example, the media company Shazam has attracted tens of millions of dollars in investments several times. In 2016, everyone's attention was riveted on ARM Holdings: Softbank acquired the company for $32 billion. This deal, the largest in the world, according to experts, is a landmark indicator of the development of the ecosystem.
The city administration is working to ensure that London continues to improve its position in the ratings. Recent achievements include improved access to finance (now London is in 4th place in the world - against 10th in 2015), conditions for doing business (10th place - against 13th in 2015).