London’s tech scene has gone through a lot of turmoil since the start of the year. Scores of firms, from social media giant Meta to data firm Palantir, have cut or are planning to cut jobs amid a softening in consumer demand and a slowdown in business investment.
Others such as fintech Revolut and meal-kit delivery service Gousto have seen their valuations slashed, while many start-ups say they struggle to access funding.
But these troubles were dwarfed by the collapse of industry linchpin Silicon Valley Bank in March, which put huge numbers of small businesses in danger of going under and risked bringing the entire sector to its knees, before a rescue deal by HSBC.
All the more reason, then, for the capital’s tech leaders to get together to lick their wounds and lay the groundwork for a brighter future. London Tech Week, which will turn 10 when it opens next week, is the ideal opportunity. “The Silicon Valley Bank collapse was one of those experiences you hope never to go through again,” said Tech Week founding partner Russ Shaw. “There’s still a degree of uncertainty out there, but investors are still closing funding rounds and there is positive sentiment.”
This year’s London Tech Week, at the QEII conference centre in Westminster, is set to be the biggest yet, with thousands of delegates and more than 350 speakers across the three-day event.
High on the agenda is the unstoppable rise of AI, an industry which is dominating the investment decisions of the world’s biggest tech businesses.
Shaw hopes the event can put a flag in the sand for the UK’s AI development credentials. “I think London already had an incredibly significant role in AI and before this latest wave of generative AI emerged,” he said.
“We’ve always been viewed as a very important hub for AI, and I trace that back to the days when Google acquired DeepMind and moved their AI centre of excellence from Mountain View (in California) to London back in 2014, that was a trigger point and we now have over a thousand proper AI companies in Greater London. So you’ve got a massive hub of AI businesses and AI talent.”
Immigration, visa troubles and recruiting top talent from overseas post-Brexit remains a major concern, while frustration at the capital’s regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), is a growing issue.
Last month, Nikolay Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, which has been waiting two years to secure a banking licence, said he wouldn’t consider a listing in London.
The founder of software firm Thought Machine, Paul Taylor, said firms are “fed up” of what they view as a regulator that moves glacially slow and is increasingly hostile to businesses trying new things. And Microsoft said the CMA’s decision to block its deal with Activision was “probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain”.
“I don’t think we should tolerate slow regulators. Tech is very fast moving, so if some of these fintechs are saying they’re too slow and too bureaucratic, that’s a problem,” Shaw said.
“[But] they’ve had a really good reputation in terms of driving innovation [so] I think we just have to make sure they’re being balanced and sensible.”
London Tech Week opens on Monday at the QEII conference centre.
