Britain has made the decision to leave the European Union by a small margin. How will this affect the technology startups that are based in London and around the UK? Here are a few points to consider:
Talent pool
It will be harder to hire engineers from the European Union member states, including Poland, Portugal, Bulgaria. As a result, the costs of hiring highly qualified developers, already often prohibitive for early stage ventures, will be higher.
Customers
Selling to the EU markets will become more complex.
At the same time, there will be less competition for the local market from the side of European startups. It can also be a bad thing due to reduced opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas and cooperation once fewer European startups are present in the UK.
Investments
At least in the short term, investors may become more risk-averse, thus reducing startup funding.
Business confidence
According to some estimates, about 80% of technology startups supported Remain, so the decision to leave may impact overall business confidence, hindering industry growth.
Bureaucracy
Most probably, there will be changes in regulations, and many experts now predict tighter control and more red-tape.
Data protection
With EU data laws being different from the general UK policy, it will depend on what approach the British legislators take to see the impact on personal data processing and storage rules, copyright protection and overall data security.
