Tech City UK is no longer needed according to the cofounder of one of the startups that the taxpayer-funded organisation is trying to support.
The quango, funded by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills with over £4 million every year, was set up in 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron in a bid to help London compete more directly with Silicon Valley. Tech City UK has since expanded its remit to the whole of the UK but the organisation has had mixed success. For example, a freedom of information request made by Techworld revealed that it gave out just seven of a possible 200 visas for exceptionally talented overseas technologists, while several of the companies Tech City UK is trying to support have criticised it for failing to provide anything of real value to them.
Now Alistair Mitchell, cofounder and president of London-based enterprise collaboration firm Huddle, which has raised $89.2 million in venture capital funding, has gone one step further and revealed that he thinks the organisation should be shut down.
French Tech is coming... First dissonant tone in what was so far unanimity behind London's Tech City.