London-based companies raised a record $682m in VC funding during the first three months of 2015, more than the entire amount raised in all of 2012.
The research by London & Partners found this figure is up 66% year-on-year and significantly beats the previous record of $411.6m set in Q4 2014. It is also over six times more than the $100m raised in 2010, the year the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London launched the Tech City initiative.
The largest investment, of $1oom, was made in fintech startup WorldRemit back in February. The next biggest sum went to the FarFetch fashion website, which raised $86m in March, followed by TransferWise, raising $58m in January in a round led by Silicon Valley’s Andreessen Horowitz.
Speaking about the research, Ismail Ahmed, founder and CEO of WorldRemit, said: “London is the ideal place to start a fintech company, as it is a technology hub as well as a financial services hub. There is an abundance of world-class talent in the city, and the convenient time zone, which enables communication with Asia and the Americas in same working day, is an attractive factor for us as an international money transfer service.”
Overall, 80% of total VC investment in the UK, representing $856.7m, was made in the Capital.