A survey on business sentiment amongst 400 EU business leaders in France, Germany, Spain and Ireland conducted by London & Partners in February 2017, highlighted that 60% of respondents want continued or closer ties with London’s business community post-Brexit.
The research also highlighted that London remains a leading global destination for growth, with the majority of European business leaders saying that London was their preferred city for business growth, both in the short term (over the next 12 months) and in the longer term (3-5 years), with the capital ranking higher than New York, Singapore and Tokyo in this regard.
London remains a leading hub for investment, with London’s tech sector attracting significantly more investment than any other major European city in 2016. Measuring activity across private equity and venture capital deals, more than £6.7 billion ($9.5bn) was invested into UK tech firms in 2016, according to data from PitchBook and London & Partners, with London accounting for more than a third of the total. Since the EU referendum, London’s tech firms have attracted over £1 billion of venture capital funding. In the months following Brexit, several of the world’s leading technology companies have also pledged long term investment into London, saying that the UK remains a leading place for technology and innovation.
In September 2016, Apple announced a new £9bn project to open a London HQ in Battersea for 1,400 staff. In November 2016, Google announced a £1bn investment for a new London headquarters which will see 3,000 new jobs created by 2020. In November 2016, Facebook announced it will double its workforce in the UK when it opens its new London headquarters, creating an extra 500 jobs. In January 2017, Snap Inc also announced it will open an international hub in London. In February 2017, Amazon UK announced plans to create more than 5,000 full-time jobs in the UK in 2017, taking the company’s UK workforce to over 24,000.
