London has become the world capital of start

London remains “one of the best places in the world to start a business” according to The Economist. The magic recipe consists of three ingredients: universities, diversity, and capital, the British weekly explains.

If London has produced more unicorns (start-ups valued at over $1 billion) than Berlin, Paris, and Tokyo combined, it is because British universities continue to attract the brightest minds, the UK remains – despite Brexit – the second preferred destination for European entrepreneurs after the United States, and because the British capital alone manages to attract over 18% of global venture capital investments in cutting-edge technologies.

When it comes to creating startups, “no other city in the world,” outside of the United States, can compete with London. Proof of this is that professionals who have passed through fintech unicorns like Revolut or Wise have chosen to found more than 230 startups there, three times more than in Berlin or Paris.

It is also in London that OpenAI chose to establish its first overseas office and where Palantir decided to set up its main headquarters outside of the United States, as highlighted by The Economist. The two AI giants plan to take advantage of the high concentration of machine learning specialists on site.

More than half of the fastest-growing British startups have been founded by immigrants. This allows the weekly to write that Britain is “surprisingly welcoming for a wealthy country” thanks to its visa programs for entrepreneurs and tax benefits for early-stage investors.

But the tide could turn. Last year, Haz Hubble, a young Londoner who creates spaces for startups, moved to San Francisco. He explains: “AI is evolving so quickly that if you’re not in San Francisco, you’re months behind.” In London, it took him three years to raise $600,000 – “in San Francisco, he raised $1.1 million in six months,” The Economist notes.

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