The 6 hottest startups in London in 2014 | VentureBeat | Business | by Christina Farr
Summary
London’s startup scene has traditionally been quite cliquey (a complaint we’ve heard from U.K. entrepreneurs who emigrated to Silicon Valley). A recent Forbes report argues that politicians have given this new tech focus a glossy, progressive-seeming veneer, but they haven’t done enough to educate the public about how to actually start new businesses. During a recent trip to East London, I caught up with two of the city’s most active seed firms, Passion Capital and Index Ventures. Eileen Burbidge, one of a trio of investors at Passion Capital, told me over lunch that early-stage investment opportunities have increased in the past two years. The company recently participated in Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, but O’Neill opted to return to London to continue building the product.