London loses Europe tech crown to Paris
Paris has overtaken London as Europe’s leading tech hub for the first time, reigniting concerns over the competitiveness of the UK’s biggest city for a vital sector.
The French capital has been named as the only non-US city in the world’s top five global ecosystems, according to Dealroom’s 2025 global tech ecosystem index, overturning years of consistent outperformance by London.
Despite raising more venture capital than Paris in recent years, London’s tech firms saw a smaller gain in enterprise value, the report found Between 2017 and 2024, the total enterprise value of Paris tech firms grew just over fivefold, outpacing London’s 4.2 times over the same period.
Paris’s AI sector is emerging as a particularly powerful force, with nearly half of the city’s $7.8bn in funding last year going to AI, including standout rounds from Mistral AI, Poolside, and Electra.
Meanwhile, London yesterday saw the collapse of one of its best-known AI unicorns, Builder AI, while earlier this month London-listed Deliveroo agreed the terms of a takeover by its larger US rival Doordash, and fintech giant Revolut this week chose Paris as a base for continental European expansion in a blow to the city it was founded in.
London ‘losing its grip’
“Deliveroo being snapped up is yet another painful example of a British success story bought out by a US giant”, said Mark Pearson, chief executive of Fuel Ventures.
“It’s a clear signal that the UK is losing its grip on scaling and retaining its own tech champions.”
Roxanne Varza, director of Station F, Europe’s largest startup campus, credits Paris’s sharp rise to AI expertise and policy support, adding that the ecosystem “has really accelerated over the last few years, largely due to the AI talent and a new wave of repeat founders.
“More international funds are building strong teams here because they’re excited about the potential”.
Nevertheless, London continues to lead Europe in AI investment, with startups raising $3.5bn last year, ahead of Paris’s $2.4bn, and Munich’s $763m.
Optimism also persists in deep tech and life sciences. Yesterday, BioNTech committed £1bn to a decade-long UK expansion, opening a new AI hub in London, and research space in Cambridge.