Boom in number of IT companies in the UK is centred around Silicon Roundabout
A report by IT accountancy firm NoPalaver said the new boom has been largely driven by firms centred in London's Silicon Roundabout.
The area around the Old Street Station, known for its high concentration of technology start-ups, has been a major hub propelling the growth with its financial technology and app-making firms attracting £1.4bn of venture capital investment over the past 12 months.
"The UK, particularly London, continues to prove itself a breeding ground for technological innovation and offers attractive investment opportunities," said NoPalaver’s director Graham Jenner.
Google has put the contribution of the app sector to UK economy at £4bn and project a rise to £31bn by 2025.
Among the most successful IT start-ups based around the Silicon Roundabout are creators of Candy Crush King Digital, makers of Moshi Monsters Mind Candy and new taxi app Maaxi, launched as a direct competitor to Uber with financial backing from financier Nat Rothschild
Amazon has also announced plans to open a major office in the area in 2016 with over 5,000 employees.
Freelance journalist Edmund Ingham, commenting on the Forbes website, pointed out that investment is flooding in from the US and from Europe and said he expects job creation to continue to happen this year.
He said: “Entrepreneurialism is increasingly seen as a viable, even as a sensible, career choice, although we must be careful not to get too cosy. That will not help us take risks or make the kind of tough decisions which are the genesis of any great company.”
He added that it wasn’t only London jumping on the tech bandwagon. “The rest of the UK is catching the entrepreneurial bug and regions, particularly in the North of England, are starting to get noticed,” he said.
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