Brexit Failed to Knock Tech Investment in U.K.

U.K. tech companies raised more capital than any other European country in 2016, while SoftBank’s acquisition of ARM helped Britain achieve a record year for tech deals, Bloomberg reports commenting a survey conducted by the U.K. capital’s promotional company, London & Partners.

The report, which was based on data compiled by research firm PitchBook Data, showed that private equity and venture capital firms invested more than 6.7 billion pounds in U.K.-based companies, up from 5.6 billion pounds in 2015. The closest rival was the Netherlands, which pulled in 1.3 billion pounds over 2016.

The depreciation of the pound played a significant part in the investment into the U.K., said Russ Shaw, the founder of Tech London Advocates Sterling collapsed an unprecedented 8.1 percent on June 24, when the result of the U.K. to leave the European Union was announced. He added that the future of European nationals working in London remains a major issue for the continued growth of the U.K. tech sector.

However, Shaw said that he’d been “blown away by what we have seen over the past six months,“ citing the recent hiring plans of Google, Facebook Inc. and Snap Inc., who have all announced plans to expand in London. The two quarters following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union were also the strongest of the year for deal-making, driven by SoftBank’s $32 billion acquisition of ARM in July.

A third of venture capital and private equity investment was directed at the U.K. capital. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said in a statement that it was “not surprising that London continues to go from strength to strength as the undisputed tech capital of Europe.“ However, the U.K. has recently been under fire for failing to do enough to promote its tech sector.