Tech funders eyeing Europe after Brexit, says Hoberman

Tech investors are flocking to find non-UK companies to pump their cash into after Brexit, according to Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman, who has raised $60 million (£47 million) in seed capital to spend all over Europe.

While Hoberman and business partner Spencer Crawley’s fund will look for young businesses in Britain, it would also look further afield to Europe.

Announcing the first close of his fundraising under the new business name Firstminute Capital, he said: “While we will do what whatever we can to promote London’s role as the European leader in tech, we need to work to fund the best deals in Europe too.”

But he added that “being pan-European has been a major focus for our investors” after the Brexit vote.

London’s tech industry has been concerned since the Brexit vote that leaving the EU will starve UK firms of top international talent, driving businesses to the continent instead.

Firstminute Capital’s cornerstone investor is Atomico, which recently closed a huge $770 million fund, but backers also include 23 founders of companies now worth $1 billion and a further seven who have been either chief executives or chairmen of $1 billion businesses.

The former group includes Autonomy founder Mike Lynch and Net-a-Porter co-founder Arnaud Massenet.

Among the more establishment tycoons is Lord Davies, the former chief executive and chairman of Standard Chartered bank. Continental investors include Frédéric Mazzella, who built up the car-sharing site BlaBlaCar.