London top hub for Indian tech investment

London: London has emerged as the leading European destination for Indian entrepreneurs with the technology sector bringing in a large chunk of investments from India, according to new data released on Wednesday.

London & Partners (L&P), the Mayor of London's official promotional agency, found that since the Brexit vote, London has attracted more investment projects from India than any other major European city.

Further analysis of the findings, released to coincide with the ongoing London Tech Week festival, shows that the British capital remains the leading European city for Indian tech companies, with London attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) from Indian tech businesses than any other European tech hub in the past two years.

London's tech companies have attracted over 4 billion pounds of investment since the European Union (EU) referendum vote in June 2016 – ahead of Paris (1.14 billion pounds), Berlin (814 million pounds) and Stockholm (542 million pounds).

The findings come as the UK government announced plans to launch a new start-up visa route, which is expected to attract more such investors to Britain.

The new route, announced by UK home secretary Sajid Javid during London Tech Week, will make the visa process faster and smoother for entrepreneurs from countries like India coming to the UK. It will replace a visa route which was exclusively for graduates, opening it up to a wider pool of talented business founders.

“The UK can be proud that we are a leading nation when it comes to tech and innovation, but we want to do more to attract businesses to the UK and our migration system plays a key part in that,” said Javid.

The new expanded route will launch in the first half of 2019, with further details yet to be announced.

“London has strong cultural and economic ties with India, and Indian businesses make an important contribution to our city. Following my visit to India last year, I see lots of opportunities to strengthen investment between London and Indian cities,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan, as he welcomed a strong delegation of Indian tech companies to London Tech Week, which runs until Sunday.

Hyderabad-based fintech company Paymatrix, New-Delhi's Artificial Intelligence start-up ThirdWatch, Bangalore-based MedTech business Mimyk, Staqu (Delhi), DineOut (Delhi), Ayasta Technologies (Hyderabad), and CropIn Technology (Bangalore) are the Indian companies joining the tech festival as part of a delegation organised by the UK's Department for International Trade.

These companies are part of the UK government's Tech Rocketship Awards programme and are visiting the UK to explore investment opportunities in London and Manchester.

“The UK is a great market for technology and food & beverage. London being the financial capital gives us access to both growth capital as well as some of the largest chains in the food and beverage space such as Pizza Express, Dishoom and Gaucho to name a few,” said Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO of Dineout, who plans to set up in London by the end of the year.

London Tech Week is Europe's largest festival of technology, involving over 200 events hosted across the UK capital and attracting over 50,000 visitors from across the world.

“I think Indian entrepreneurs love the creative energy of London and the inclusiveness and welcome of our tech community, not to mention the time zone, access to capital and world class talent," said Laura Citron, CEO London & Partners.

"We're opening an office in Bangalore so that we can do even more to bring the London and Indian tech communities closer together,” she added.