Hello my friends 🖐,
and welcome back to the Monday #TechWatchbySeb ☕️
In early Feb, Brexit was officially announced. A new period is starting for the U.K. and especially its new position in Europe as it was considered the centre of European Finance and also the most active European Tech ecosystem.
So 2021, is the beginning of a new organisation, and the U.K. government has announced the colour of their focus: the Tech sector.
All started 2 weeks ago when Kalifa published a report, in which he suggests to the U.K. Gov, 5 focus:
Policy and Regulation: enlarge the scope of the Sandbox to Scale up companies
Skills: attract and retain talent to make tech companies succeed
Investment: launch new tax credit scheme, support IPOs alongside creating a fund to support $bn valuation companies
International: support companies to go public
National connectivity: create a strong networking ecosystem of those top companies
In parallel, an interesting article was published in Financial News explaining why London has to attract more IPOs. For me this article was very interesting has the London Stock Exchange, especially regarding top Tech companies is a very good indicator to see and feel if the U.K. is still a country that counts. And in this article, you can find some interesting insights, such as :
Not even a global pandemic could stop London from posting a record for tech venture capital investment last year. And there is no sign that leaving the European Union has affected the appetite of foreign investors, with the UK attracting more tech investment than anywhere else in Europe and more than France, Germany and Sweden put together.
This confidence is reflected in the fact that London is home to 43 unicorn companies — increasingly household names such as Transferwise, now Wise, Octopus Energy and Deliveroo for example
but the article also reveals, that to keep this leadership, it will also be a challenge :
- The number of listed UK companies over that period has sunk by nearly half over the last quarter of a century, resulting in a net loss of 1,300 companies
- The value of new issues has fallen by around two thirds in real terms to about £5bn a year
We are also seeing a small but significant number of high growth UK companies opting to list in the US instead of London
… and since then, some very interesting announcements has been done, with 2 Unicorns releasing their future IPO to happen in … London 🇬🇧
Both companies were identified in the European Tech IPO Observatory in Feb : Deliveroo and Trustpilot. It’s definitely very strong signals send by the London Tech Ecosystem to Europe and to the World… yes the U.K. wants and will do everything to stay at the top of the game ♠️
#TECHWATCHBYSEB — WEEKLY ISSUE #14
🥇 Ahead of its IPO Klarna 🇸🇪 has raised $1 Bn on $31Bn valuation
The very strong signal sent by Klarna ahead of its IPO. This round has been oversubscribed by existing and new investors.
Also interesting to note that Klarna has said it plans to donate 1% of the financing from its most recent round to sustainability causes. The European most valued startup is definitely assuming its European Leadership, inspiring👏👏👏
🥈VW is planning to list Porsche 🇩🇪 to support Tech acquisition
Is the Tesla phenomenon gave ideas to the VW leadership to play in this game? who knows, but they officially announced to consider a listing of the Luxury brand car Porsche to be listed with the aim to speed up Tech acquisition and Investments.
🥉 Electric air taxi startup Volocopter 🇩🇪 raises €200 million
The very promising German company has raised a D round of €200 M ahead of finalising certification and by extending its commercialisation. The CEO, Florian Reuter, explain that it expects its first commercial air taxi routes to be opened within the next two years. Very exciting 🤩
That’s it for this week, wishing you a great week ahead🖐
Stay safe ❤️