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London PropTech firm tops Startups 100 list as capital remains UK's startup hub

Peer to peer property lender LendInvest has topped Startups.co.uk’s annual Startup 100 list, ranking the UK’s most innovative and disruptive businesses founded in the last three years.

The London-based lender, which pairs prospective investors with entrepreneurs looking for short-term mortgage finance, fended off competition from the likes of pop-up space booking platform Appear Here, employee benefits firm Perkbox and sausage specialists Heck, to nab top spot.

LendInvest has already attracted significant attention from international investors, coming off the back of a £40m warehouse funding line from global investment firm MacQuarie last month, as well as £22m investment from Chinese technology firm Beijing Kunlun in June 2015.

Commenting on LendInvest’s success, Startups.co.uk’s editor, Lucy Wayment, said: “The proptech industry has been growing at pace so it’s not surprising that LendInvest, with plans to rapidly scale its profitable offering this year, has taken the top spot in what is an extremely well-regarded industry-ranking.

“Given that property platform Purplebricks took the top spot of the 2015 index, it’s clear that the proptech sector offers ripe start-up opportunities; in fact, there are nine proptech companies that feature in this 2016 list alone.”

Overall, the list paints a positive picture of the UK’s startup ecosystem, with proptech, food and drink, fintech, and retail all figuring strongly in the seventh annual Startups 100 list.

Startups.co.uk editor, Lucy Wayment, added: “The average turnover of the startup businesses in this index is £1.54m, nearly £400,000 more than in 2014, which is a good indicator that the UK’s startup businesses are thriving and are only set to scale further in the coming months.

“Year-on-year, the Startups 100 index celebrates the fast-growth potential of UK start-ups and shines a light on the game-changing new businesses helping to drive the economy.”

The list also sheds light on the centrality of London to the UK’s thriving startup scene, with 69 of the 100 companies on the list based out of the capital, with the South East (6) and West Midlands (4) boasting the second and third highest regional representation on the list.

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