[kaashif]

It's not based on marketing, it appears to be based on metrics like amount of venture capital raised.

[alephnerd]

Having a London domicile often leads to an overstating in venture capital raised for the UK ecosystem.

For example, I've funded Polish and Indian startups that chose the UK as their legal domicile because we couldn't be bothered to hire a legal team to draft a contract to Polish or Indian specifications.

Builder.ai [0] is a great example of that - it was an Indian startup that was domiciled in London to simplify raising capital from Gulf investors.

[0] - https://www.ft.com/content/926f4969-fda7-4e78-b106-4888c8704...

[fakedang]

Startups like Builder AI use London because a.) they want to raise money from filthy rich Arab investors and b.) those guys are not known for doing much due diligence. They go more by vibes and hype and who's on the existing cap table. Also c.) they are very comfortable with London because it was so much easier back in the day to launder or siphon away funds from their home countries. London is an extremely popular destination for Gulf Arabs.

You'll get a lot of shady startups of that kind in London for this reason.

[atlasunshrugged]

Does this also impact US metrics for capital raised? My understanding is that the Delaware C-Corp is still the startup standard for founders from anywhere in the world to raise global capital, which I imagine skews where the capital actually ends up flowing if they are actually building a company in a foreign location and just using the Delaware entity as a holding co.

[jacquesm]

It should be based on the number of successes relative to the amount raised or ROI and that picture is quite different. In that sense London is way behind SV.

[dukeyukey]

The article doesn't dispute that London is way behind SV. What it's saying is that for non-US funding, London dominates.

[noosphr]

Given that London has little else going for it other than a financial industry it's not surprising money is raised and companies are registered there.

That said I don't know anyone doing a startup in London. But I know dozens in Berlin without even thinking about it.

[dukeyukey]

Eh, I know quite a few. LegalTech, hardware, obviously fintech, quite a bit of AI. But I work at a London startup so my social circle might be different to yours.