Candy Crush maker King might have ditched London to list is New York earlier this month but Tech City chief Joanna Shields isn’t perturbed.
“I think the conditions are right… I think we have parity. In many ways we’re competitively advantaged over the US now,” Shields told City A.M yesterday.
Shields went on to say that she expects many more tech companies to list in London.
“Their [King’s] process began a long time ago, once the train has left the station those things tend to move in that direction. I would foresee in the future that there will be more companies who choose London.”
Not all tech entrepreneurs agree with Shields.
In an interview with LondonlovesBusiness.com, Powa Technologies CEO Dan Wagner said that the UK doesn’t understand tech. (Read: He floated his first company for £120m, aged 31. Now Powa CEO Dan Wagner says the UK doesn’t get tech)
Wagner, who is on track to float his company in the next 18 months, also plans to shun London for the US.
“There’s only a 10% chance we will float on the London Stock Exchange,” he said.
“Right now, if I walk into an analyst meeting in the UK, they wouldn’t know what on earth I am talking about. It’s not because they are not intelligent, it’s because there are no vertical companies in tech space listed [in London] today.
“And because we’ve don’t have tech companies listed here, analysts aren’t covering them and there’s poor investor knowledge – classic chicken-and-egg situation,” he added.
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