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Roger Carson, co-founder of Encompass Corporation, shares his advice on how technology startups based outside of London can get access to venture capital funding.
London is not only the tech capital of Europe, but when it comes to FinTech some argue it’s fast emerging as the FinTech capital of the world, but sometimes that shadows the huge success of tech, and FinTech, outside of the nation’s capital.
Infact, in 2016, more was invested in tech in the UK outside of London than invested in any other European Country. Last year, a staggering £4.4bn was invested, either through equity or venture capital, outside of London.
The wealth of talent in many of the UK’s leading university towns and cities, generous incentives and tax breaks by the UK government, plus an array of generous funding schemes offered by many of the UK’s cities and regions have all contributed to tech hubs growing up in Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and elsewhere.
This has all contributed to making the UK an attractive proposition for tech startups and investors alike. The British may not have generated tech giants such as Google, Amazon or Apple, but they are still leaders of innovation evidenced by the huge growth of M&A activity in the UK’s tech sector over the past few years.
If you have a good idea and the means to launch effectively, major investment from global big hitters can follow. Not only that, but the UK can prove the ideal launch pad for breaking into the North American market, the holy grail for any tech entrepreneur.
It all sounds rather rosy, but the issue is getting your startup off the ground in the first place. So, as someone who’s secured significant funding in Scotland, what advice would I give to tech startups…