Brexit has left the UK\u2019s technology industry reassessing its position, with major firms putting expansion plans on hold as they consider a move to a continental location.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s financial technology sector is particularly hard-hit, with the prospect of losing access to European markets an unappealing one. \u201cFintech\u201d has long been one of the UK\u2019s most promising growth areas, in part due to London\u2019s position as the financial capital of Europe.<\/p>\n
Taavet Hinrikus, the chief executive and co-founder of foreign exchange service TransferWise, said that the industry will have to \u201cwait and see\u201d to find out the long-term effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is likely to affect regulation and the movement of talent, two massive issues for business. The two main benefits of being part of the EU are access to talent because of the free movement of labour and the fact that you can \u2018passport\u2019 regulation so if you\u2019re regulated in the UK, you\u2019re regulated across the EU. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with either of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinrikus had been outspoken before the referendum, warning that a Leave vote would lead to his company considering relocating its London headquarters. \u201cIt\u2019s unlikely we will close our London office,\u201d he now says. \u201cbut we will probably not grow the team based here much more. Headquartering elsewhere is a possibility but we haven\u2019t made a final decision yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toby Coppel, the co-founder of venture capital firm Mosaic, added a note of optimism. \u201cEntrepreneurs are a very resilient bunch, so in general I\u2019m not worried how that community will respond. I think that they are used to living in a fog of uncertainty, even if this is now quite a dense fog.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, he added, the vote would have a definite impact on the future of the nation\u2019s technology sector even so. \u201cThe next entrepreneur who\u2019s 22 years old, graduating from a technical university in Germany may, instead of moving to London to do their Fintech startup, decide to go to Berlin instead. I think that\u2019s one of the biggest concerns I have about the trajectory of the London technical ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The technology sector is almost universally supportive of Britain remaining in the EU. One poll of British tech entrepreneurs in the run-up to the vote had support for Remain at 70%, compared to 15% wanting to leave; another, of just London tech workers, is even starker: 87% on one side, and just 3% on the other. It\u2019s even prompted some of Britain\u2019s largest tech companies to speak out publicly.<\/p>\n
The reasons for that support include standard business fears about the economic damage Brexit would impose upon Britain, but also sector-specific fears about increased difficulty recruiting world-class talent from overseas, and a loss of access to the Digital Single Market, an EU initiative led by Britain in 2015.<\/p>\n
In the run-up to the election, four of Britain\u2019s biggest technology startups spoke up to say how damaging Brexit would be to their industries. In addition to his own company Transferwise, Hinrikus said that Brexit will be \u201cvery damaging for the tech industry today and is playing into the hands of the American capital market and tech industry\u201d.<\/p>\n
Property site Zoopla said that leaving \u201cwould create both economic and political uncertainty\u201d, while fintech firm Funding Circle said \u201ca successful, well-functioning Europe is crucial to a business like ours\u201d. A fifth, JustEat, said \u201cwe do not believe that Brexit would have a material impact on Just Eat\u2019s business \u2026 Nevertheless, we feel it would be favourable for Britain to remain within the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not one of the 14 billion-dollar tech firms based in the UK the Guardian asked said leaving the EU would be good for their business.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brexit has left the UK\u2019s technology industry reassessing its position, with major firms putting expansion plans on hold as they consider a move to a continental location. Britain\u2019s financial technology sector is particularly hard-hit, with the prospect of losing access to European markets an unappealing one. \u201cFintech\u201d has long been one of the UK\u2019s most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":225514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n