It’s no wonder London’s Tech startup scene is thriving when it has the steadfast support of the capital’s thriving financial district.
The latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) details how London is once again at the top of the list; a position it last held two years ago before it was knocked off the top spot by New York.
The Index conducts analysis on 98 of the world’s business districts and bases the results of this analysis on a large number of categories, for example the business environment of the city, the infrastructure, development of the city’s financial sector and the quality of its human capital.
London scored best in every single category. Something which many believe was helped by the renewed political certainty which came after the General Election in May.
Only one other European city made the top 10: Zurich, which holds 7th place. The next EU city (after London) to rank is Frankfurt at number 14. Cities in America and Asia tend to dominate the other positions in the upper tier of the Index.
These results reinforce London’s position as a financial global leader and certainly go some way towards explaining why so many startups have seen fit to base themselves in the capital. It’s important to note that these startups are not just moving into London from across other parts of the UK; they are coming from across Europe and the rest of the world.
This is something Mark Yeandle of Z/Yen, the think tank which conducted the research, has noticed: “London still attracts a lot of good international people and I always say: you can’t have an international financial centre without an international workforce.”
Should a stricter immigration policy be enforced by the government it may cause problems for London, for it would mean the capital’s companies (startups and all) will struggle to pull together the best teams because they won’t be able to draw from an international talent pool.
For now though, cities such as London and New York are in very strong positions and holding their global financial centre status very well, a factor which is sure to keep driving startups to the cities in order to make the most of all the advantages they can provide.
The coming years will no doubt see the top 10 of the GFCI become a lot more competitive, so it will be interesting to keep track of how this correlates to the number of startups basing themselves in London.
For now, London’s startups should be taking full advantage of the capital’s business environment and its infrastructure and use these benefits to help their startups grow and achieve success.