Redraft this as a news and publish
Dear Team London,
With London Tech Week coming up (8-12 June), we’re sharing three key messages (with supporting facts, obvs) so we can tell our story, together, with real confidence.
London has real momentum as a top 3 global tech city, talent is our superpower, and we’re serious about our investor welcome.
1. 2026 is lift-off year for London tech – we have real momentum. London is a top 3 global tech centre and the European capital of tech.
The numbers: • London is third only to the Bay Area and New York so far in 2026 on venture capital raised ($12.6bn, largely driven by AI) and new unicorns created (12). • London’s tech ecosystem is 2-3x the next biggest European city (Paris) on every measure: ecosystem value, number of VC-backed start-ups, total VC investment, unicorns.
The momentum is palpable. In the 5 months since the start of 2026: • London-based scale-ups are flying, with these brilliant companies each raising over $150m in late-stage rounds: ElevenLabs (voice AI); Isomorphic Labs (AI drug discovery); Nscale (data centres); Quantum Motion (quantum computing); Synthesia (AI video); Wayve (self-driving cars); 9fin (debt intelligence) • Anthropic and OpenAI have both announced London centres, hiring 1,300 between them • Lenovo, Airwallex and Databricks have all announced major new investments into London
See the full data set and sources here .
2. Talent is London’s superpower. London doesn’t have big empty deserts or lots of cheap power. (Though it does have by far the biggest data centre capacity of any European city (Newmark)).
But London is both a talent factory and a talent magnet: • Ranked no. 1 globally for human capital (Oxford Economics) • More top 100 universities than any other city on Earth (QS rankings) • Creativity will be key in the AI age: London is home to the top 2 art and design universities in the world (RCA and UAL – QS Rankings) • London’s public (state-funded) schools perform the best in England, and English schools are significantly above OECD average (PISA rankings) • A truly global and inclusive city: nearly 3 in 4 startup founders in London were born outside the UK (Deep Ecosystems) and London ranks top for female entrepreneurs (Dell Women Entrepreneurs Cities Index).
More data and source links here .
Access our London Tech Week resources and tell London's story with us here .
All the best, Laura
Laura Citron OBE Chief Executive London & Partners 1st Floor, 169 Union Street SE1 0LL London
londonandpartners.com @growlondonbusiness
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London & Partners is the growth agency for London.
