As London’s tech industry surges ahead we must protect our capital’s competitive edge

Yesterday new analysis revealed another record year for the London Stock Exchange with firms at the forefront of the UK’s tech revolution going public in 2021.

Last year, UK tech represented more than a quarter of London’s new listings. The sector generated some of the most successful IPOs on the stock exchange including homegrown health-tech firm Oxford Nanopore which bounced by 43 per cent on the first day of listing. Deliveroo and Moonpig were also among the top ten companies for capital raised in 2021.

The sector faced down gloomy predictions for the fate of UK tech. There was more money than ever before flowing into businesses across the country; every 13 days there was a new business valued at $1bn created last year. Our domestic tech sector led the way for levels of investment across Europe, raising double the amount of investment than Germany and almost three times the £9.7bn raised in France. We proved that London is still an internationally competitive market after leaving the EU by attracting significant IPOs from the US, Denmark and Canada.

We met industry leaders behind some of the sector’s high-growth companies to hear more about the journey from start-up to stock market.

We discussed this with founders and leaders from some stand-out later-stage companies to understand what more needs to be done to make our market the most attractive place.

Conversations like these are essential to ensure London’s strengths – including excellent access to international investors and all the benefits of any world-class financial market for a start – are widely understood in the sector.

The recommendations proposed in Lord Hill’s UK Listings Review are being quickly delivered. Under new reforms to rules on dual class share structures, founders can still retain control of the companies they’ve grown from start-up stage even when they take their companies public. The minimum necessary amount of publicly traded shares has also been reduced from 25 to 10 per cent so that firms can trade on the open market with increased flexibility.

The Treasury has also consulted on reforms to the UK prospectus regime and will soon set out next steps to achieve a new, more agile regime which better serves dynamic, high-growth businesses.

We’re investing in every stage of the tech pipeline, with billions allocated at the last Budget to provide the skills and funding businesses need through more AI and data scholarships, R&D spending and start-up loans.

We’re also helping investors unlock more capital for the tech ecosystem by consulting on the pension charge cap. And we’re committed to doing everything we can to make the London market the best environment for them to list and thrive.

2022 has the potential to be another record year for the UK sector on the stock market, for investment in tech and for creating new jobs across the country. We are determined to build on our position leading levels of tech investment across Europe to achieve superpower status, especially in areas like AI and Fintech which are thriving in the UK.

Whether you’re a trailblazing fintech firm, transforming healthtech, or changing the game with Artificial Intelligence, this should be the year you consider the UK home for raising cash or expanding your business.