‘List of lazy outdated takes’: Short seller’s London jibe riles UK tech chiefs
London tech bosses have hit back today after short seller Carson Block launched an attack on the quality of talent and skills in the capital.
In a recent interview with City A.M., Block took aim at the capital’s tech credentials and said firms listed outside of the US “was almost always a flag”.
“The money allocated to tech investing in the US is just massive. And so if you’re not raising money in the US for something that’s tech, the implication is that the people are not that bright,” he said.
But the comments have triggered a backlash from London tech bosses.
“It’s just a random list of lazy outdated takes on UK and European tech that don’t really dignify a response,” Dom Hallas, chief of the Start-Up Coalition, told Morning Wire
“The UK offers a thriving ecosystem for fintech development and investment, with access to global markets making it a prime destination for tech listings,” Janine Hirt, boss of Innovate Finance, said.
Block weighed in again on the spat last night. In a statement to City A.M., he said: “I apologise to anyone who wanted me to fawn over UK tech as though I were Michael Lewis talking about Sam Bankman-Fried.”
The spat comes as Raspberry Pi, which makes beginner-friendly coding computers, says it is exploring a potential London float, which could value the company at over £409m.
“I think this narrative that you have to run off to the US feels a little overblown,” Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi, told a recent event in Cambridge.