London reclaims Europe’s top tech spot from Paris, Dealroom says

London has taken back Europe’s top tech spot from Paris, a shift that says as much about where money and talent are concentrating as it does about any single year’s performance. In Dealroom’s Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2026, London moved to first in Europe and fourth globally, behind only the Bay Area, New York and Boston.

The ranking gives London credit for continued strength in artificial intelligence and deep-tech investment, with stronger venture funding and steady unicorn creation helping drive the result. Last year, London tech companies raised $17.7 billion and the city counted 138 unicorns, including Wayve, Granola, OLIX and ElevenLabs. Dealroom’s index weighs investments, talent, innovation and outcomes across more than 325 cities in 77-plus countries, making the result a broad measure of ecosystem depth rather than a simple popularity contest.

That matters because Paris had briefly gained ground. A 2025 comparison found Paris startup enterprise value had grown 5.3 times between 2017 and 2024, versus 4.2 times for London, and French tech companies including Mistral AI and Poolside raised $7.8 billion in 2024, compared with London’s $11.3 billion. The reversal in 2026 suggests London’s advantage was not erased by Paris’s recent surge, but it also shows how quickly the top of Europe’s tech map can move when capital cycles shift.

The London story is also about resilience. London & Partners said in 2023 that the city’s tech ecosystem had expanded from $70 billion in 2014 to $621.5 billion in 2023, while venture-capital investment had risen 800% since 2014 and the city had created 101 unicorns, up from 15 a decade earlier. It also said London had attracted more than 1,700 tech foreign direct investment projects since London Tech Week launched in 2014, along with 175 new tech companies in 2022. In its 2024-25 impact report, the organization said it added £677 million to London’s economy and supported 8,204 jobs.

The wider policy backdrop still matters. techUK said in December 2025 that the UK tech ecosystem was worth around $1.2 trillion and that London accounted for close to 60% of that value. It also said UK startups raised around $14 billion in 2025, the largest amount in Europe, even as public-market exits remained harder to secure. That helps explain why London continues to pull in global capital after Brexit and despite persistent regulatory uncertainty.

Dealroom’s own city profiles underline the gap. London is listed at $726 billion in combined enterprise value, with 150 unicorns and $18.2 billion in venture capital invested. Paris stands at $296 billion, 53 unicorns and $6.2 billion in VC. The numbers suggest London’s comeback is rooted in structural advantages, not just a temporary pause in Paris.