UK tech special: The rocky but unstoppable rise in startup valuations January 30, 2022 The accelerated growth of startup valuations has sparked debate around the world, particularly in the markets where this has been reflected in the most significant raises and the speediest unicorns. Despite ongoing pandemic uncertainty, a quarter of the UK’s 116 unicorn tech companies became unicorns during 2021. Investment climbed significantly, up to £26bn in 2021 [...]
London must not rest on its laurels, it needs strong access to talent to continue to thrive January 29, 2022 The past twelve months have been one of the biggest tests that London has undergone in recent memory, with the twin challenges of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic leading some cynics to doubt the capital’s future as a world leading business hub. Even though streets across the City and central London fell quiet at times [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A nuclear future gets lifted off the ground January 28, 2022 On Tuesday, Rolls-Royce invited bids from English and Welsh regions to host the site of a small nuclear reactors’ factory. Yesterday, fresh news of £100m of government money invested in the Sizewell nuclear site made the headlines. Sizewell C could generate enough electricity to cover 7 per cent of what the country needs, providing around [...]
As Moscow muscles in on Ukraine, Russian money still poisons our shores January 28, 2022 It is on the borders that you see the threads coming apart. In Ukraine and Bosnia the danger unravelling in Europe feels urgent as agreements that have kept us safe and peaceful are being challenged. With 100,000 Russian troops massed on the border it’s easy to focus on them, but it’s not just tanks that [...]
The entrepreneurial spirit inspired by the pandemic will future-proof our economy January 28, 2022 It is considered almost universally true that “business hates uncertainty”. A lack of predictability stifles investment, scares off backers and gives business owners sleepless nights – but it also gives oxygen to creativity. During the worst of this crisis, while established businesses scrambled to minimise disruption, entrepreneurs went looking for opportunity. A new world emerged, [...]
Complacent monetary policy has driven an inflation crisis, not businesses’ price hikes January 28, 2022 Inflation hit 5.4 per cent in December, its highest level since 1992. It is widely expected to reach seven per cent in the next few months – it has already reached that level in the US. There are several reasons why inflation has raised its ugly head again. Demand for gas and oil has outstripped [...]
Matt Hancock: Britain will be left in the dust with our tepid attitude to cryptocurrencies January 27, 2022 We were already living in an age of change like no other. Now the pandemic has accelerated that change and Britain must embrace the opportunities it brings, or we will lose out. Most obvious is the Zoom revolution. There have been more rapid changes to the way we work in the past two years than [...]
Holocaust Memorial Day: in the words of survivors January 27, 2022 Six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust and millions of lives were taken under Nazi persecution of other groups, like Roma and Sinti people, black people, gay people, mentally and physically disabled people. And while we said, “never again”, genocides followed since in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, with millions [...]
Russia cosies up to Italy in the face of EU inertia January 27, 2022 Vladimir Putin met with Italian business executives via video link on Wednesday, as the UK and the US prepared to send in more troops to Eastern Europe yesterday. The Russian autocrat called Italy a “key partner” for Moscow, and vowed to be a reliable energy supplier. While the European Union has struggled to reconcile its [...]
Backwards attitudes towards loss-making, high growth companies are stunting success January 27, 2022 Outside of Silicon Valley and New York, the UK is one of the leading capitals for tech innovation. Its start-up ecosystem is worth an impressive £105bn, according to a global report from advisers StartupGenome. London’s access to talent, capital, and investors is enviable, but the country as a whole lags behind some of its European [...]