London top for venture capital

London remains the most “investable” city in Europe for venture capitalists, despite the spectre of Brexit, according to a new report.

The study by global recruitment firm Robert Walters and market intelligence outfit Vacancy Soft reveals that, in 2018, London attracted almost double the amount of venture capital funding (39 per cent) for the fintech – financial technology – sector when compared with any other European city.

Other locations examined included Berlin (21 per cent), Paris (18 per cent), Stockholm (5 per cent), Barcelona (4 per cent), Amsterdam (4 per cent), Zurich (3 per cent), Copenhagen (2 per cent) and Dublin (2 per cent).

Chris Hickey, chief executive at Robert Walters, said: “This boost to the fintech market resulted in a 61 per cent increase in job creation in London and an 18 per cent increase in jobs outside of London in 2018 – making it the fastest growing sector in the UK.

“Whilst Brexit has no doubt been a concern and slowed down hiring levels somewhat within financial services, the fact that the UK has one of the best IT and banking talent pools in the world continues to be a big draw for investors.”

The growth of the fintech sector has been so great that London now has the second largest concentration of fintech start-ups. Of the 29 fintech unicorns worldwide – companies with a value of $1 billion or more – nine are in San Francisco, while seven are housed in the UK, the report notes.

Hickey added: “This is a positive story for the UK economy, and job creation across the board within the fintech sector has grown significantly.

“In fact, between 2017-18 job creation within fintech increased by 100 per cent in HR, accounting, and business support roles, by 74 per cent for IT positions, 48 per cent in banking-specific roles, 40 per cent in legal, and 16 per cent in both insurance and sales.”