Tech opportunities bloom amid Brexit

When I look back over the last few years, 2016 stands out as a year that changed the course of global geopolitics for good, especially for the Western world. The results of the United Kingdom’s European Union membership referendum (or the Brexit vote) that came out in June 2016 would go on to disrupt business as usual. Results of the American election in November 2016 continue to have wider repercussions across global economies. The American election is perhaps a topic for someone else closer to the US economy. Given my personal and professional residence in London, I feel qualified to talk about the impact of the Brexit vote on a few elements of the UK’s economy. Since the vote, it is clear that the UK government has started to look at life after the EU. As part of this readjustment, it is looking to the Commonwealth, a group of 53 countries that the country has close ties with, for building strong economic, strategic, political and cultural relationships. Among the Commonwealth, India stands out as it is now the fastest growing major economy in the world. Increased engagements between the two countries have started bearing fruit as latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that investments from Indian investors increased by 321% to £8 billion in 2018 compared to 2017. In particular, one of the areas that have been very positively impacted post-2016 is the technology partnership between the UK and India. 

Governments, both in the UK and in India, have been very enthusiastic about forging stronger and newer relationships in various technology-driven sectors. In the last 18 months, a number of new initiatives including events, delegations, among others have been launched. Various government and private sector-backed challenges and awards have given technology start-ups in both countries access to strong platforms where they can either explore lucrative business opportunities or to seek expertise or raise funding from an otherwise inaccessible pool of investors. 

One of the most significant programmes launched in this space is the UK-India Technology Partnership. Both the governments announced various initiatives when this partnership was announced in April 2018 with the UK government also announcing its intention to investment £1 million in various pilot projects and up to £13 million by 2022. Other government initiatives have included events like the UK-India Tech Summit, which was first held in 2016, the India-UK Createch Summit, the first of which was held in 2018, among others. In addition, the UK government’s Tech Rocketship awards, which offer a week-long sponsored trip to the UK, have garnered great interest within the Indian startup community.

In addition to the government, the private sector has also stepped up its activity in the technology sector. 2018 saw Indian “Unicorns” such as Ola Cabs and OYO Rooms launch in the UK. According to a press statement by Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola, “The UK is a fantastic place to do business and we look forward to providing a responsible, compelling, new service that can help the country meet its ever demanding mobility needs. We look forward to our continued engagement with policymakers and regulators as we expand across the country and build a company embedded in the UK.” It should be noted that it is not just these young technology companies that are active in this space. Companies like Tech Mahindra have also recently announced significant investments in the UK.

The activity is far from one-sided. Vodafone Group, the British telecom giant announced the largest foreign direct investment in India back in 2016. Furthermore, hardware companies like Dyson have also launched in the Indian market. In addition to the large companies, smaller technology companies like Onfido, an identity verification provider, also started rolling out their products in India.

The financial and consulting services sector in the UK is also waking up to this potential opportunity in the UK-India Tech Corridor. Various advisory companies looking to advise clients in either country have come up in the last couple of years. Cross-border funds like the Unicorn Ascension Fund have been established to help relevant UK start-ups launch and scale in the Indian market.

This should give an idea of the scale and diversity of activity taking place in the UK-India Technology corridor. I personally believe that this is set to increase in the coming years and will give rise to many exciting opportunities in the future of both countries.

The writer is managing partner, Unicorn India Ventures