Barely a day goes by without news of layoffs emerging from the tech world — from cybersecurity to gaming, no industry is impervious. It’s not limited to any particular size of company, either — everything from fledgling startups and scaleups to billion-dollar public entities such as Netflix have all “downsized” or put their hiring plans on pause this year. On top of that, there is no geographical factor at play, with companies spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and beyond all impacted.
But juxtaposed against this, some companies seem to be bucking the downsizing trend by not only hiring, but also opening physical offices to accommodate broader expansion plans.
London in particular remains a key destination for international firms looking to spread their proverbial wings, with U.S. unicorns and public companies revealing inaugural or upsized offices in the U.K. capital in recent months. And closer to home, a bunch of smaller European tech companies have also extended their reach out across the English Channel with their first U.K. hubs.
Cross-border investments
Data from FDI Markets, the Financial Times’ cross-border investment monitoring service, indicates that London has attracted the highest number of foreign direct investments (FDI) into tech from international companies for the past few years, ahead of Singapore, Dubai, and New York. This includes international companies that are establishing a presence for the first time and those that are expanding an existing footprint (this may include M&A activity).
Image Credits: fDi Markets, from the Financial Times Ltd 2022 (Data provided by London & Partners).
While this data doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story, at a broad level it does suggest that some companies are still expanding, and London is still an appealing proposition relative to other major cities.
Janet Coyle, managing director of business growth at London & Partners, London’s official publicity arm, told TechCrunch that there are various financial perks that might appeal to overseas companies looking to establish a base in the capital. This includes tax incentives such as the lowest corpora …
