Six tech niches set to explode in 2014

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London’s tech-tastic. #Fact.

Tech has found us an answer to everything in the capital, from number-crunching other companies’ creditworthiness to finding the love of your life.

In the first half of 2013, London’s tech start-ups raised over $351m in private investment.

Of course, that’s less than 10% of the investment Californian companies saw in the same period. But London has grown to be a mega rival of New York.

No, we’re not saying that, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it in October. “Our competition is only going to be in other cities that have similar kinds of characteristics. And the city that comes to mind is London,” he said.

What makes London such a global tech hub is its enviable pool of tech talent.

“London has the biggest tech talent pool in the UK and it’s where everyone wants to be,” says Simon Ebdon, Director, Financial Technology & IT, Hays, the leading recruiting experts.

“What draws talent to the capital is the scale of investment and the fact that more and more global tech companies are flocking here to set up an HQ.”

Ebdon says that recruitment in emerging tech sectors is generally contract-focussed as employers are looking for talent with product knowledge and breadth in their skill set.

“As developing technologies becomes a part of the daily rigour of employers, companies like to have flexibility in hiring talent to work on different tech niches being explored.

“In fact, most clients hire contractors, judge performance, and then make them part of their permanent workforce.”

Fancy being a part of London’s tech scene? Here are the tech niches set to explode in 2014.

FinTech

FinTech, i.e. finance + technology, is on fire. Why? To begin with, the digital finance market is set to be worth £1bn in 2016. That’s great news for London as the capital’s home to 32 of the FinTech 50 Europe watchlist which charts the most successful FinTech companies.

“Fin Tech will continue to invest heavily in technology in 2014,” says Ebdon. “It’s the age of electronic trading. Algorithmic driven transactions eliminate some of the human error element, essential for the burgeoning need to be risk-averse and be seen to move away from ‘casino-type’ banking.” This will continue to cause increased momentum in the Compliance and risk tech sector

Companies to watch:

World First

Borro

Wonga

MedTech/BioTech/PharmaTech

London just hosted the Health 2.0 Conference 2013, Europe’s largest event for health tech entrepreneurs. The event saw over 500 participants all over the word discussing the game-changing health technologies.

Need we say more?

Yes?

Imperial College London is planning to build the £1bn Imperial West research campus in White City, and a £600m Francis Crick Institute near King’s Cross is also on the cards.

In July this year, London Mayor Boris Johnson pledged £1m of funding to the London Enterprise Partnership for building a Medical City in Euston.

Companies to watch:

MediWiSe

HealthDiary

myClinicalOutcomes

mehealth^™

Pervasive Health

Property Tech

Technology is a big catalyst in our killer addiction to property porn. In fact, 74% of us check property websites for homes that are beyond our budget. There are many London tech companies, big and small, making a business out of that. In September, property website Zoopla was named the 6th fastest-growing private technology, media and telecoms (TMT) business in Britain by the Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 list.

From finding roommates to tenant repair reporting softwares, London boasts a string of Property Tech companies.

Companies to watch:

Zoopla

Gumtree advertises two of the world’s three rare Range Rover Sports

SpareRoom

EdTech

If billionaire entrepreneur Lord Ashcroft and YouGov co-founder and CEO Stephan Shakespeare see a potential in this sector, so should you. The duo has invested in London-based Flooved, a global education platform that wants to make all textbooks available through open access.

London’s fast-becoming an EdTech hub with the UK and Europe’s first EdTech Incubator being based here.

Companies to watch:

Flooved

Knodium

Dating Tech

Technology is playing cupid in the capital with dating tech apps and websites getting a lot of love from Londoners.

London-based dating tech start-up Lovestruck.com has grown by 2,658% over the last five years and is the fifth fastest-growing UK tech company, according to Deloitte.

Lulu, an anonymous women-only app that rates men, has seen 80 million profiles viewed by its users since January. The average user opens the app eight times per week.

Companies to watch:

Tinder (Founded in US but spreading like wildfirein London)

Lovestruck

Lulu

Say Something

Music Tech

With Hammersmith-based Shazam being touted as one of the main contenders for Britain’s first billion-dollar company, London’s Music Tech scene is red-hot.

Another Music Tech company with a big London presence is Deezer, Europe’s answer to Spotify.

Last year, it got $130m (£81m) investment from Leonard Blavatnik, owner of Warner Music and one of the richest Londoners around.

Companies to watch:

Songkick

Deezer

Audible