Asian investors head to London as ministers look to lure in tech cash

Asian investors are set to descend on London this week as the government tries to lure foreign cash into the UK’s tech sector in a post-Brexit investment offensive.

A delegation of Asia-Pacific investors representing some £100bn of funds will head to the capital for London Tech Week, with a host of tech firms set to pitch to investors today in an event at the London Eye.

Natalie Black, the trade commissioner for Asia Pacific, said the cohort of investors was “record-breaking” and pointed to a “deepening relationship with nations across the [Asian trade bloc] CPTPP”.

The investment charm offensive comes amid a wider drive to boost trade and investment links with Asian countries after Brexit. The UK inked its biggest post-Brexit trade deal with the Asia-Pacific trade bloc signing the CPTPP in March.

In a statement today, the minister for investment, Lord Johnson, said London Tech Week was a chance for the UK to show it is a “science and technology superpower” and the “number one place to invest”.

“Just weeks after successfully negotiating our biggest post-Brexit trade deal with the CPTPP, we are seeing huge interest from investors in the region, with millions of pounds being invested into world-leading British tech,” he added.

“Creating closer ties with our friends in the Asia Pacific region is creating enormous opportunities for inward investment, as the UK sits at the cutting edge of innovation in science and technology.”  

The department for business and trade said a host of firms will also announce they are swapping their headquarters for London this week, including Japanese startups Datagusto and Qufooit, as well as Kiwi booking platform Enrolmy.

The Asia-Pacific push at London Tech Week this week follows an £18bn commitment from Japanese investors to pump cash into the UK. 

Government has been scrambling to boost its ties with Asia after a sharp drop off in trade after Brexit. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) last year, forecast that the departure from the EU would result in the U.K.’s trade intensity – a measures of the country’s integration with the global economy – being 15 per cent lower in the long run than if it had stayed in the bloc.