Why the U.S Market Makes Sense for U.K Tech Companies

New York

With Brexit now official, the US offers existing and new opportunities


Why the U.S Market Makes Sense for U.K Tech Companies? - With the largest economy in the world, the United States of America offers some of the best possible business opportunities for U.K companies. Founded on the principles of equality, the US is rich in cultural diversity. This - alongside a hardworking, dedicated and well-educated workforce - position it well as a location in which businesses of any size can thrive, especially U.K tech companies.

What does U.K / U.S trade represent?

Surprisingly for some, the U.S is infact the country from which the U.K earns the most through trade. Exports to the US in 2018 were worth £120 billion, more than twice as much as exports to any other country and have been growing at double digits rates since then.

With imports from the US totaling £66 billion, the UK ran a trade surplus with the US of £34 billion in 2018 (by far the highest globally).
While the value of UK exports to the EU has fallen between 2011 and 2016 (from £243 billion to £236 billion), the UK is increasingly exporting to the US. Exports to the US rose by more than 26% over the same period.

What does this mean for U.K tech companies?

Britain is creating more technology companies worth at least $1bn (£786m) than any other company in Europe, according to government research.

It found that UK-based entrepreneurs have built 72 such businesses in the past 20 years, including 13 in the past year, with only the US and China surpassing that number. Germany has 29 and India has 26.

More than a third of Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies are based in Britain, according to the study for the government-led Digital Economy Council, whose members include techUK, Google, Facebook, BT and Apple. It said that, over the same period, the US and China had created 703 and 206 tech firms respectively.

For U.K tech firms that are in a startup phase or are established with a market agnostic model that can scale, the U.S economy and population of over 400 million is an attractive step when looking for expansion opportunities beyond U.K shores, for obvious factors such as common language, intellectual property law and the he U.S venture capital market in emerging tech.

How do U.K companies get access to the U.S market?

Setting up a U.S company is a surprising straight forward endeavor, infact less bureaucratic even than establishing one in the U.K. There are a couple of options for U.K tech companies depending on how far along the road you are with your entry into the market.

A remote U.S company

The first option is to incorporate a U.S company on a remote basis, to access basic services such as access to financial institutions (banking) , the protection against liability (an LLC or LLP) or a U.S jurisdiction corporate presence for potential investment (such as a C-corp), while maintaining non-resident alien tax jurisdiction. This option can be done by simply forming a U.S company, while not going all the way of investing in a physical presence with U.S based employees, more information on how to setup this up online can be viewed here - https://yondaa.com/us-company-formation-services/

A physical U.S presence

The other option for U.K tech companies who are at the point of wanting to establish a physical presence and relocate company employees to the U.S is to go down the ‘investor visa’ route. The U.S has a couple of fairly straight forward options for business looking to setup that are easy to navigate and can be processed in as little as 3 months from start to finish.

This ‘E2 Investor’ or ‘E1 Trader’ visa options were established to facilitate and enhance economic interaction between the United States and other treaty countries of which the U.K is party to. To find out more about both of these, you can download this comprehensive guide - https://yondaa.com/e1-e2-investor-visa-overview/

What are the steps required to get this moving?

If you intend to do business in the U.S, whether remotely from the U.K or by establishing a presence on the ground in the U.S, there are several steps you should take. These are generally straightforward, and, with a few exceptions, shouldn’t be very expensive. Preparation and research are critical to successful US expansion: get it wrong at the beginning and it can cost you a lot more down the road.
To setup a U.S company online today, visit https://www.yondaa.com or contact us via;

Email: contact@yondaa.com
Telephone: +1 (480) 719-1052