London remains the European hub for most tech companies owing to its strategic location, easy availability of talent and access to finance.

Outside the United States, London has the largest number of venture capital backed tech companies and accounts for almost 20 percent of all the tech investments made in Europe.

The traditional hub of technology industries in London is the Silicon Roundabout in the East of London and the biggest and most prominent tech cluster is the East London Tech City, an outstanding innovation and technology hub, modelled on Silicon Valley.

At last count, more than 500 tech companies were spread across all the tech clusters. Prominent startups in recent years that have become highly successful include 7Digital, Eventbrite, INQ Mobile, Last.fm, Mendeley, Mind Candy, Moo Print, Playfish, SeatWave, Spotify, Stylistpick, We7 and more.

San Francisco is the global hub of world-renowned technology innovation leaders.

Thousands of successful Silicon Valley-based high-tech companies, such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Uber, and VC firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock continue to foster the startup ecosystem globally through acquisitions and investments.

San Francisco has always been known for its diverse population, world-class cultural institutions, and ability to nurture transformational change.

New York City has become one of the largest centers for tech companies and the second-largest tech hub in the world.  A major deal-making and tech platform, the City is also home to a deep pool of technical talent and innovation.

Home to over 3,000 start-ups, Paris is the tech hub of France. The region welcomes 37 incubators programs and as of 2016, will house the world’s largest digital business incubator, located in the renovated Halle Freyssinet in the heart of the city.

Being the #1 city in Europe in terms of multinational headquarters, Paris concentrates a critical mass of senior talents with industry expertise. The ecosystem is furthermore supported by a highly qualified workforce and in particular unrivaled engineer and developer talent, very efficient R&D tax credits, and strong start-up support infrastructures.

This has led to France, for the fifth year running, being ranked first in 2015 by the Deloitte “Technology Fast 500 EMEA”, with 87 of the top 500 fastest growth companies based on percentage revenue growth. France is also ranked first in Europe in an index of the 100 most innovative organizations in the world. (Thomson Reuters, 2015)

Notably it is home to the highly successful Criteo, BlaBlaCar, Sigfox and many more.

Hong Kong is a global financial centre and key for investment in and out of China with easy access to key technology hubs in the region.
With the increasing appetite of Asian investors for European Technology companies, Hong Kong provides an ideal platform to support the growing flow of capital and innovation between the two continents.

Berlin has established itself as the place to be for international investors and entrepreneurs in Europe. The city is lauded for its ‘Silicon Allee’ and recent deal activity has seen the city emerge as a new startup hotspot, with companies such as Delivery Hero, 6 Wunderkinder, Applift, Gameduell, Researchgate, EyeEm, Zalando, Soundcloud.

Modern infrastructure, affordable real estate, a creative environment and high quality of life have attracted a growing number of innovative and talented entrepreneurs, resulting in a flourishing startup scene.

Stockholm is a vibrant startup hotspot and upcoming tech hub with talents behind global successes such as Spotify, Klarna and Mojang. Ranked as one of the 10 most connected cities in the world by UBM’s Future City, Stockholm has a strong community of software developers and entrepreneurs within gaming, fin-tech, eCommerce etc.

A humble entrepreneurial culture and early international expansion have made Swedish entrepreneurs good at scaling business fast and developing companies with global appeal. Stockholm’s booming startup scene is also attracting significant attention from top investors from all over the world.

With 46 million inhabitants, Spain is Europe’s fifth largest economy and one of the fastest growing countries across the developed world. With record investment in innovative technology businesses, there are plenty of reasons to monitor its digital sector. In addition, Spain is the gateway between Europe and Latin America, which with a population of 400 million Spanish speakers represents a significant opportunity for Spanish technology entrepreneurs.

Manchester has a strong entrepreneurial tradition. With 7 million people living within 60 minutes’ drive of the city centre, the region boasts home-grown technologies such as Graphene, as well as companies such as Sage, Moneysupermarket, SurfControl and AO.com. With the BBC and ITV committed to MediaCity, GP Bullhound is seeing a cluster of digital media and content technology businesses developing quickly.

Having invested £3.5 billion in building world-class infrastructure, Manchester is now positioned not only as the driver of northern England’s digital and tech economy, but also as its potential contribution to the global tech sector, on its way to becoming one of the world’s great tech cities.