Tech sector job creation climbs to new high but skills focus needed May 5, 2015 UK technology companies’ hiring has reached a record high despite the industry reporting slower growth in business. The tech sector UK business activity index published today by consultants KPMG and financial information firm Markit scored 55.7 for the first three months of the year. Any figure above 50 represents growth with higher scores marking faster [...]
General Election 2015: FinnCap CEO Sam Smith wants more help for growing companies and support for UK FinTech April 29, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 7 DAYS TO GO Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. SAM SMITH: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, FINNCAP Put in place further tax breaks for investing in growth companies. Reduced the corporate [...]
Britain can produce world-beaters – if business speaks up for capitalism April 28, 2015 The startup parliament. That may well be the history books’ verdict on the last five years of our economy. It has been a period in which the UK has flexed its commercial muscles to become one of the most successful enterprise destinations in the world. Of Europe’s 25m small firms, more than five million operate [...]
FinTech payment startups least likely to get acquired by banks April 23, 2015 Financial technology startups shaking up the payments industry are least likely to be acquired by established banks, despite the increasing efforts by financial institutions to become more innovative. The most likely end-game for a successful startup developing innovative new ways for making payments in the rocketing FinTech sector is being acquired by a major technology firm such [...]
London’s tech sector will grind to a halt without action on infrastructure April 20, 2015 London’s technology sector may be basking in record levels of investment – £549m in the first quarter of this year alone – but maintaining its success will become increasingly dependent on the capital’s infrastructure being fit for the future. The growth of the digital economy over the past few years has irreversibly reshaped our city. [...]
Silicon Roundabout rents push tech firms out of hub April 16, 2015 Office take-up by tech and media firms in Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and the Docklands is on track to overtake London’s traditional industry mecca of Shoreditch this year as companies go in search of cheaper rents, according to new data seen by Morning Wire Property advisory firm Colliers International said 79,740 square feet of space was [...]
In the FinTech family: How crowdfunding is propelling peer-to-peer platform Assetz Capital forward April 8, 2015 Back in 2010, it became clear to the co-founders of Assetz Capital that the banking system was broken. So we set out to make a difference – not just to help restart business lending, but to make a long-lasting change for the better. The desire to develop a platform where businesses could access much-needed funds, [...]
Funding Circle’s new funding round will value the London FinTech startup at $1bn April 2, 2015 Funding Circle is on the verge of closing a new round of funding which would value the London FinTech startup at more than $1bn (£674m) and see it join just a handful of UK tech companies with billion-dollar valuations. The peer-to-peer lender could close funding of more than £50m within weeks, including backing from Blackrock and [...]
Investment in London’s tech startups hit record levels of $682m in 2015 April 2, 2015 Investment in London’s technology sector has hit a record high, once again proving the city’s attractiveness to investors as firms in the capital gained more than half-a-billion dollars in backing in 2015. In the first quarter of the year, in which established tech startups such as World Remit, Transferwise and Shazam received multi-million pound funding [...]
RBS sees better-than-expected price for its Aldgate office block March 31, 2015 Bids for one of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s office buildings in Aldgate have entered a second round, with the taxpayer-owned lender set to gain a better-than-expected payout. The bank appointed advisory firm DTZ at the end of last year to sell Aldgate Union on Whitechapel High Street, with a guide price of around £85m. [...]