“London,” declares Saul Klein, one of Europe’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs who has backed firms including Wise, Nanopore and Zoopla, “is still one of the top three places in the world to access the capital, customers, and talent to innovate.”
Among headlines of tech apocalypse and political gloom, Klein shrugs off talk of the capital’s demise.
“We have the infrastructure and we’re a place where founders can get advice, funding, and support.” But entrepreneurs, Klein asserts, must look beyond the success of their own businesses.
“We need to acknowledge and address the inequality in our city. In the area around our own office [Klein’s Phoenix Court Group is based in Somers Town, next to Euston and St Pancras, an area he has dubbed the new Palo Alto] is one of the most valuable square miles in the world from the perspective of the depth of knowledge, AI, genomics, creativity, plus capital and innovation — but it also contains one of the poorest neighbourhoods in London.”
Klein’s firm gives a share of profits towards a charitable foundation for neighbourhood projects “but it’s not just money that’s needed. We spend a lot of time working with 30 nearby organisations, including local primary schools, a GP surgery, and a social enterprise which supports refugees, to help them make connections, and do the best work they can.
“There’s a social contract that we have in the UK and Europe that’s qualitatively different to the big tech centres in the US and China — this city is more than just an economic powerhouse, it can be a role model for inclusive, equitable innovation.”
Fellow investor and entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi, who built Coffee Republic into one of Britain’s biggest chains, agrees that the capital’s contrasts help it stand apart from international rivals.
“It’s a community city — so wonderfully diverse, with access to an enormous market, including younger consumers who are so willing to try new things,” she says. “If you can’t find an opportunity in London, you’re not going to find it anywhere else.”
Both Hashemi and Klein’s passion for London’s entrepreneurial eco-system will be in evidence when they speak at SME XPO, the Evening Standard’s event for ambitious business founders and decision-makers taking place next month.
Hashemi, who is behind campaign group Buy Women Built, wants to help boost the number of women starting their own businesses. The rates of female entrepreneurship in Britain are a third lower than in the United States.
“We’re creating a platform, with peer-to-peer sharing and networking, so entrepreneurs can learn from each other and share contacts. Women here have the business ideas but are missing out because they are not taking the leap — but London is the best place to start a business, it’s a great place to be able to design a prototype, test it out — there’s always an opportunity in London. Go and make it happen.”
The key drivers of local scale-up growth, adds Irene Graham, CEO of the ScaleUp Institute, “are access to skilled talent, development of clusters, and access to growth capital, alongside a strong collaborative, knowledge sharing community with a strong identity. “London has all these ingredients and is also the front door for entrepreneurs to access new markets. It has the highest density of scale-ups — more than 82 per 100,000 people. Scale-ups are among like minded entrepreneurs in London — the world is at your doorstep. Scale long and prosper.”
