The United Kingdom is a great place for start-up development. Some even claim that it’s the best in Europe. There must be some truth to it because the statistics confirm that start-up entrepreneurship is thriving there. It is also possible to find thriving companies. Why is this market doing so well and new unicorns appear year after year? I will answer the question in this article.
It takes a lot of work, determination, knowledge and competence to build your own start-up and achieve success… and yet many fail. Some end their activity after a year on the market, while others struggle with adversity a little longer to finally fall. This is a common start-up problem, so I began thinking about it. I investigated which factors lead to start-up bankruptcy. Answer? Lack of financing, knowledge, competence, adequate human resources, or simply the market was not fit for the product. Basically, nothing new. However, after a deep analysis, I arrived at one more conclusion, namely – location. If we trace the history of start-ups that have successfully developed their product and gained new markets, we will notice that the location (city, technology hub) is also of great importance.
I asked myself another question: where in Europe are the best conditions for the development of start-ups? I do not intend to give a definite answer indicating a specific city. However, I would like to highlight Great Britain and its capital London. Why? In my opinion, it is a great place for business development, especially among European countries. At the beginning of 2019, as many as 13 unicorns operated in Great Britain. I also tracked the number of start-ups being created. Every year, this indicator increases by about 10%. According to available statistics, 5.6 million small businesses were registered in Great Britain in 2018. This heralds a really good future for this market.
I have heard many times that the UK is seen as a tech-hub center of Europe. I read a very interesting document entitled 'Global Start-up Ecosystem Report 2019' developed by Startup Genome. It presents the situation of start-ups around the world from a global perspective. Interestingly, London was ranked third in the 'Top start-ups ecosystem,' ex aequo with Beijing. The first place (there is no surprise here) was taken by the Silicon Valley, followed by New York.
What are the conclusions of this simple analysis? First of all, Great Britain is fierce in competing with other global agglomerations where start-ups are emerging. Secondly, it is the undisputed leader in Europe. In terms of factors such as performance, funding, market reach, connectedness and knowledge, London was rated the highest with a score of 1. High results were achieved also with regard to parameters such as talent and experience, where the score was 2. Growth rate was rated 6, which is one of the best results in the world.
I will mention one more list that may also interest you. Namely, the UK was ranked third in the 'Software ecosystem ranking.' It is just another confirmation of the huge potential of this market.
It's time for what I enjoy very much, which is. ... presenting selected start-ups. By checking and analyzing the market in the UK, I found some really interesting start-ups. I decided to share them with you because of their product. I think that they can achieve great success in a short time. Fingers crossed!
Based: London (United Kingdom)
Founded: 2019
Specialties: Recruitment
About Jobflix: Their webpage says that having spent over a decade in the recruitment industry, Jobflix owners understood how talents and employers are frustrated by the hiring process. Text-based job offers are uninspiring and make it hard for employers to stand out. This is why Jobflix mission is to match talent with opportunity through video and AI. Sounds interesting? Definitely! Jobflix wants to create a culture-first recruitment platform, where employers showcase their working environment and people on video – all to attract candidates in a more authentic way. This is a start-up really worth observing.
Based: London (United Kingdom)
Founded: 2016
Specialties: Business Intelligence, Business Software
About Fabacus: The mission of this start-up is to build a simpler and smarter world of licensing. Through experiencing the challenges of fragmented licensing and supply framework while building a global manufacturing business, their founder set out to find a solution. They believe that in a fiercely competitive market having transparency – and, therefore, control – across the entire supply chain would result in an unbeatable advantage.
As we can read on Fabacus webpage, their team consists of experienced, visionary and executive leaders from across the retail and licensing arena as well as highly successful professionals, all well-versed in the development of large-scale cloud-based systems. They collaborate with industry leaders, from top-tier licensors and agents to global standards organizations like GS1 and worldwide logistics operators like DP World, all in order to develop this proposition and create a transformational solution for all stakeholders.
Based: London (United Kingdom)
Founded: 2015
Specialties: Digital Identity, Internet Security
About Citizen: The aim of the company is to change the way people identify themselves and pay online. They are building a network of businesses and customers who think there is a faster, more secure and more private way; without passwords, card details or document scans.
Using the Citizen app, customers can identify themselves to businesses using their face or fingerprints; they can also make payments without cards, directly from their bank account. No more cards, no more papers. Only simple and easy online payments.
My observations show that a thriving start-up environment in the UK is also a better chance for investments. Comparing London with other European cities, we may also notice that the administrative process of starting a business is relatively simple and convenient. These are further arguments supporting the image of a strong market. I have no doubts that soon there will be more unicorns in the UK. Who knows, maybe among the start-ups mentioned in this text?
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