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.
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.
Luxembourg is one of the most important financial centres and hubs within the European Union. The Luxembourg office, an authorised Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM), will ensure post-Brexit continuity and compliance for GP Bullhound’s advisory and investment activities, and allow a close collaboration with domestic entrepreneurs and investors to further strengthen the local ecosystem. The office is structured as GP Bullhound’s operations and compliance centre, focusing on fund management activities, such as portfolio and risk management and valuations; marketing of new funds; and local investment banking activities.
The Zurich office aims to support Switzerland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with sophisticated technology advisory services, and provide vital access for founders and entrepreneurs to harness global wealth managers and investors domiciled in the country.
Switzerland has established itself as a key hub within the European tech ecosystem, with equity investments in Swiss startups tripling since 2018. With a population of 8 million inhabitants, the country ranks third in Europe in terms of investments per capita, with healthcare, ICT, biotech and cleantech leading the way. This is thanks to a combination of an excellent educational system, with ETH Zurich, EPF Lausanne and HSG ranked as top universities globally, and significant wealth increasingly channeled into supporting entrepreneurial activity.
Malaga is one of the fastest-growing tech destinations in the world. Following in the footsteps of Google, Vodafone, and Citi, who have all announced specialist hubs in Malaga over the last 18 months, GP Bullhound will benefit from Malaga’s strong network of schools for design, data science, and programming, and a city which offers high quality of living.
This new location solidifies GP Bullhound’s existing footprint in Spain, following the opening of a Madrid office in 2017, and numerous high-profile transactions and investments closed over the past years for companies including Glovo, Wallapop, Ravenpack, Lingokids and Cooltra among many others. Spain is a fertile market for fast-growth companies and innovation, generating six new unicorn companies in the past year, contributing a total $8.7bn to Europe’s tech ecosystem.
Munich is the economic heartland and high-tech powerhouse of Germany. Home to BMW, Siemens, Allianz, Audi, and many other global headquarters, the Bavarian capital has the highest purchasing power of any German city. Furthermore, it has a booming tech scene, consisting of both startups and scaleups, housing many of Germany’s technology leaders. As Europe’s leading communications technology (ICT) hub, boosting a powerful production industry with massive investments in smart technology, the regional economy ranges from the automotive industry, advanced manufacturing, automation and machinery to electronics and environmental technologies.