The UK has long positioned itself as a gateway to European markets — but for many Europe-based startups, it’s far more than that: it’s a launchpad for globally ambitious companies.
From high-growth startups to established enterprises, UK-based companies are building, scaling and reaching customers globally, driven by a government that partners with businesses. The reformed Office for Investment originates deals while the National Wealth Fund is catalysing over £70bn in private investment.
According to Maximilien Levesque, CEO and cofounder of French biotechnology company Aqemia, opening offices and working in the UK has helped to situate the company within the global pharmaceutical ecosystem.
“The decision to establish ourselves in London was primarily driven by the ecosystem density,” he says. “We are well-funded so the decision was driven by the quality of the UK ecosystem.”
The UK Government is working to make the country one of the top three places in the world to create, invest in and scale-up a fast-growing technology business, putting all the building blocks in place via the Modern Industrial Strategy.
January marked one year since the government unveiled its AI Opportunities Action plan, which aimed to accelerate innovation and growth across the country. Since then the plan has delivered 38 of its 50 initiatives with investment in UK AI firms jumping from £2.6bn (2023) to £4.7bn (2025), making the UK the largest AI market in Europe.
The decision to establish ourselves in London was primarily driven by the ecosystem density
The government also remains steadfast in its goal of upskilling 10m workers with AI by 2030. The establishment of the Sovereign AI Unit further marks a move towards backing AI companies and funding up to £500m worth of projects.
In an interview with Sifted, Levesque along with Claudia Stiefel, VP of operations at workflow automation platform N8n and Tim Lambert, regional lead UK, IE, Nordics at software provider Osapiens unpack their own growth stories and what drew them to set up and scale in the UK.
Access to skilled talent
One of the key reasons N8n scaled into the UK was access to the high volume of skilled talent available, Stiefel says.
"The main reason for us to land in the UK was about accessing talent. London is an amazing hub for investors as well as customers."
“We've been hiring in the UK for most of our existence, but we started in earnest a year ago to hire a sales team there. We’ve put down roots with an office there as well,” she says.
“The main reason for us to land in the UK was about accessing talent. London is an amazing hub for investors as well as customers. When we considered other cities, none of them compared to the depth of the talent pool there.”
According to the UK's Department for Business and Trade, the country has a deep talent pool in AI and deeptech sectors with 2.6m people employed in the digital and technology sector. The government’s TechFirst skills programme, backed by £187m in funding, will also support up to one million domestic students to enter the tech workforce.
For Aqemia, opening an office in London has opened doors to talent due to the proximity to the city’s universities and research institutions.
“The main reason to open an office in the UK was to work with talented people at the intersection of computational chemistry, biology and technology and you have those institutions that generate such talent,” says Levesque.
Universities and research institutions
The UK is home to four of the world’s top 10 universities according to the QS World University Rankings; the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University College London.
The UK has also launched a Global Talent Taskforce and a £54m Global Talent Fund specifically to attract researchers, entrepreneurs and top-tier technical talent into the country.
The proximity to scientific research institutions such as the Francis Crick Institute, and others within the Knowledge Quarter near King’s Cross, creates an environment where multi-disciplinary collaboration is natural.
These kinds of institutions provide companies across the UK with access to both world-leading talent and the facilities, research opportunities and industry networks needed to nurture promising young minds.
Aqemia’s office located near King’s Cross provides the opportunity to collaborate with some of the UK’s leading research institutions and universities.
“The proximity to scientific research institutions such as the Francis Crick Institute, and others within the Knowledge Quarter near King’s Cross, creates an environment where multi-disciplinary collaboration is natural,” he adds.
The UK’s academic institutions also offer opportunities for collaboration with academic partners, says Lambert, especially across fields such as data science, AI and supply chain research.
“Working with large, complex non-financial datasets across global value chains, collaboration with academic partners strengthens methodologies and improves how risk, compliance and supplier relationships are modelled,” he says.
Funding options and access to global markets
The UK market sits at an “interesting intersection”, particularly post-Brexit, says Lambert.
“The practical reality for most large UK businesses is they're managing EU regulatory obligations through their European operations simultaneously. Add to that the UK's active investment in AI, advanced manufacturing and the energy transition. These aren't peripheral themes, they're areas where serious enterprise demand is being created right now.”
"These are factors that contribute to the strong investor backing we’ve received. It is a marker of real market traction, and our UK presence is a strong part of that story."
He adds: “With its time zone advantage, the UK functions as a natural gateway to other common law markets across North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.”
Having a UK customer base has also been a strong signal to investors that Osapiens works at a high level of complexity and scrutiny, he adds. “These are factors that contribute to the strong investor backing we’ve received. It is a marker of real market traction, and our UK presence is a strong part of that story.”
If a European company puts down roots in the UK, it offers easy access to English talent and markets, Stiefel adds. However, London is still often considered as the main hub of the UK’s ecosystem which is both a "strength and a weakness,” she says. “London is really where it all happens.”
The UK remains connected to the world, through markets, time zones and alliances. It’s a place to build locally and scale globally. The UK government’s new digital Expand Your Business tool gives businesses a personalised growth plan in two minutes. Click here to start your journey today.
