Although Silicon Valley remains the triumphant in the world of venture capitalism, the UK doesn't follow far behind. Actually, Tech City reports that the UK attracts one third of all venture capital money available within Europe.

According to figures from London & Partners, UK tech companies made over £2.5 billion in 2015, which represents an increase of 70 percent from 2014 when they raised £1.4 billion.

If you are a startup, you might want to know who are these venture capital firms headquartered or based in the UK and how to make the most of them.

The first one is Balderton Capital. Founded in 2000 by Benchmark Capital Silicon Valley, Balderton became fully independent in 2007 as a UK firm investing in early-stage and internet startup companies that are mainly based in Europe. Balderton is famous for investing early on European entrepreneurs.

With most of the capital coming from university endowments, charitable foundations and pension funds, Balderton invests between £775,000 to £15 million each time and manages around £1.8 billion. Some of the most outstanding investments include Kobalt, Bebo, Citymapper, Wonga and Magic Pony.

They disclaim on their website that they support Europe's leading technology businesses. "Our focus is on early stage, European technology businesses, with ambitious founders and unique approaches. Belderton is the largest Europe focused venture fund, with funds totalling $2.3BN. We invest between $1M to $20M into companies with the potential to disrupt huge industries, and the ambition to scale globally."

"We invest for the long term, with the ability to support our companies from start to exit."

"Our partners are the founders, investors and board members of some of Europe's biggest technology companies. We have a team-oriented approach to building breakthrough technology companies. Balderton is an equal partnership. This means our entrepreneurs get the benefit of a team of experts, in addition to a community of over 150 founders."

Scottish Equity Partners is another venture capital firm that has made over 150 investments with more than 110 exists ever since its foundation in 1991. With offices in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, the firm invests companies in different fields such as energy, healthcare and technology. With over six funds under the management of 20 employees, the firm invests up to £20 million in high growth technology companies. Investments include Cyberhawk, SolarCentury and Skyscanner.

On their website, they state: "We are an independent owner-managed firm with 45 experienced professionals (...) Our team is knowledgeable, well-connected and experienced in supporting high growth companies across a range of technology sectors."

"We forge constructive long-term relationships with the companies we back, providing continuity and building trust, supporting you from the start of your partnership with us all the way to exit."

"We are approachable, enthusiastic and keen to work with the inspirational entrepreneurs behind Europe's most exciting high growth companies. We understand the challenges and opportunities involved in scaling a business and are skilled in helping to identify and to capitalise on future growth opportunities."

DN Capital invests primarily during the growth stage from £214,000 to £13 million per company. The firm has professionals operating in the London, Menlo Park and Berlin offices, which invest in marketplaces, e-commerce, software, mobile apps and digital media sectors.

With 55 investments and 16 exits across eight countries, DN Capital specialises in assisting US companies to the European market. Important investments include Shazam, Hppm and Seedcamp.

Michael Bruce, the founder of Purplebricks.com, said: "DN Capital was a valuable company and share in that early vision to invest in scaling our disruptive business model across the UK."

DN Capital managing partner Nenad Marovac also joined the Purplebricks board of directors. He said: "At DN Capital we are constantly looking to identify the next breakthrough UK technology companies. We believe that in Purplebricks.com we have found a game-changing proposition that will resonate deeply with UK property sellers and buyers.

"We are very impressed with what Michael and Kenny Bruce have built so far, and are looking forward to bringing our technology experience to help build a significant business."

Another firm worth mentioning is Bridges Ventures. Founded in 2002, the London-based firm manages £600 million and aims to creating investment returns through social and environmental challenges. Bridges Ventures is focused on sustainable and impact investment strategy and for that it uses Sustainable Growth Funds, Property Funds and Social Sector Funds.

Whether you are just starting your business or you already got your business on the ground, having our business is hard work, so here are some quotes to keep your spirits high.

"Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career." - Ryan Freitas, About.me co-founder

"Every time we launch a feature, people yell at us." - Angelo Sotira, deviantART co-founder

"Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that." - Anthony Volodkin, Hype Machine founder

"Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on your trip, but you're not doing a tour of gas stations." - Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Media founder and CEO

"If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, it's too large." —Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO

"Don't worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop." - Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart Publisher

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." —Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. co-founder, chairman and CEO

"Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you." —Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO

"The value of an idea lies in the using of it." - Thomas Edison, General Electric Co-founder

"Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don't find one, it's you." - Mark Cuban, AXS TV chairman and entrepreneur

"It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen." - Scott Belsky, Behance co-founder

"There's nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team." - Jason Fried, 37signals founder

"Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea." - Mark Pincus, Zynga CEO

"Best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch." -Michael Arrington, TechCrunch founder and co-editor

"If there's something you want to build, but the tech isn't there yet, just find the closest possible way to make it happen." - Dennis Crowley, Foursquare co-founder

"Nothing works better than just improving your product." - Joel Spolsky, Stack Overflow co-founder

"If you're interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them." - Ryan Freitas, About.me co-founder

"It's hard to do a really good job on anything you don't think about in the shower." —Paul Graham, YCombinator co-founder

"If you're interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them." - Ryan Freitas, About.me co-founder

"Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create." - David Karp, Tumblr founder and CEO

"I don't think an economic slump will hurt good ideas." - Rob Kalin, Etsy founder

"I doubt I'll ever go back to corporate work. Once you see the light, there is no turning back." - Magnus Jepson, WooThemes co-founder

"Stay self-funded as long as possible." —Garrett Camp, founder of Expa, Uber and StumbleUpon

"Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success." - Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder

"When I'm old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say ‘wow, that was an adventure,' not ‘wow, I sure felt safe.' " - Tom Preston-Werner, Github co-founder

"No more romanticizing about how cool it is to be an entrepreneur. It's a struggle to save your company's life – and your own skin – every day of the week." - Spencer Fry, CarbonMade co-founder

"The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world." - Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO

"I knew that if I failed I wouldn't regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying." - Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO

"We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient." - Bezos

"If you double the number of experiments you do per year you're going to double your inventiveness." – Bezos

"Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful."

"A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well."

"One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out."

"What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you – what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind – you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn't a strategy." - Bezos

Despite being famously known for its corporate secrecy, Apple has set up a small steam in a coworking space in Berlin. The distinctively secretive iPhone developer has placed a small team into a property where Israeli coworking space provider

Mindspace

occupies a number of floors. Although neither Apple nor Mindspace confirmed the claims, they didn't deny them.

An Apple spokesperson stated: "Unfortunately, I cannot give you any information since we generally do not talk about single locations or teams nor about temporary office space we probably rent."

The tech giant also has a discrete office around the corner in Gendarmenmarkt square, which was unveiled in May. When the office was identified, Mindspace tweeted: "Hi @Apple you could have avoided all the hassle of locating an office in Berlin. Next, just come to Mindspace."

An off-the-record source told Business Insider: "It is only a small portion of the Gendarmenmarkt office (that has moved). So the rest (of the team) is still in the old office. For now, there are three employees. Two girls and the head of Apple Music (for Germany, Switzerland, Austria). They rented the suite office which is like a private open office for 10+ employees."

An anonymous source told Business Insider that Apple strategically moved in on Here's talent as the mapping company was passed from Nokia to the German automotive group.

"It's a simple story: Here was in disarray after Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia," said the source, who works in the Berlin tech scene. "Apple saw the opportunity and opened an office in Berlin, specifically to siphon Geo Information Systems (GIS) talent."

The source added: "These people independently complained to me that Apple opened an office in Berlin specifically to cherrypick at Here." This claim was backed up by another source in Berlin.

Here - which provides mapping data, software and services to the automotive, consumer and enterprise sector - was "bleeding talent" as Microsoft's deal with the German car consortium went through. "Things are getting a bit better now, but GIS talent is rare."

A spokesperson from Here told BI: "Between the Microsoft deal and our acquisition by the German carmakers, the team grew by more than 100 people and our global sales grew significantly over the same time frame. the trend has continued. I state these facts since they contrast with the picture painted by your source."

Mindspace offices have also been rented by other giants, including Samsung, Coca-Cola and Barclays.

While Apple has never confirmed the existence of any office in Berlin, it's believed that the company's work in the city is linked to the exceedingly secretive Apple Car project.

If there actually is an Apple Berlin office in Gerdarmenmarkt, it's meant to be hidden. Although there are no logos to be seen anywhere, the company has its name next to a tiny buzzer outside the building's main door.

A report from German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine said "Apple is running a secret laboratory for the development of an automobile and this in the middle of Berlin."

According to the report, the laboratory housed 10 to 15 staff, who were engineers or had backgrounds in software, hardware and sales.

After examining LinkedIn, you can see Apple has 168 employees working the "Berlin area." Out of these employees, many work in the Apple Store in Kurfürstendam but LinkedIn shows that Apple has dozens of engineers working in Berlin as well.

Apple has hired at least six employees from automotive mapping company Here - owned by Audi, BMW, and Daimler - for a Berlin-based Apple Maps team.

Although the giant has never admitted that it's working on an electric car, Apple has hired dozens of automotive experts from companies like Ford and Mercedes-Benz.

Apple's efforts to build a self-driving car are internally know as "Project Titan," which has caused rumours and speculations for years. These speculations have evolved and Apple's focus is now believed to be on building autonomous software rather than an entire vehicle.

This is not the first time Apple recruits people with automotive engineering backgrounds. For instance, at some point, former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky helped build the iPhone. Johan Jungwirth, who was Mercedes Benz's R&D chief, also worked for Apple.

Mindspace writes on its website: "Our designed shared office space is at the epicentre of entrepreneurship and innovation. It provides an all-in-one office space solution for startups, entrepreneurs, accelerators, service providers, investors and VCs who are looking for the ultimate coworking environment in Berlin-Mitte."

Mindspace has another space around the corner on Krausenstraße - Apple's "secret" office - and it's going to open a new one in Kreuzberg at Skalitzer Straße.

China's highly lucrative outbound tourism market has "great potential" for future growth, and this, in turn, has generated "tremendous business opportunities" for tourist destinations across the world, according to a new report carried out by the World Tourism Organisation, in conjunction with the Regional Program for Asia and the Pacific, in collaboration with the Program for Statistics, Trends and Policy.

The study, titled Penetrating the Chinese Outbound Tourism Market, demonstrates that China is now the world's largest source of outbound tourists. UNWTO's secretary-general Taleb Rifai explains this was in terms of both quantity of trips abroad and expenditure.

"China has become a key source market not only for many destinations in Asia and the Pacific but also for destinations in other regions of the world which see a steady influx and growing interest from Chinese tourists," he said.

China became the world's top spender in international tourism in 2012 and since then, it has led global outbound travel. Tourism expenditure from China has grown exponentially over the years. Most dramatically, it went from $24 billion in 2006 (3 percent of the world's total) to $261 billion in 2016, which is 21 percent of the world's international tourism spending.

According to the latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism has grown on a global scale. Over 1,235 million international tourist arrivals were recorded globally in 2016, some 47 million more than in 2015, or an increase of 3.9 percent.

With 615 million arrivals in 2016 - half of the world's total - Europe is the most visited region worldwide. Europe is followed by Asia and the Pacific, which recorded 309 million arrivals or 25 percent.

The Americas welcomed 200 million international tourists (16 percent of the global figure). Meanwhile, Africa represents 5 percent of international arrivals and the Middle East received 4 percent.

According to the report, what sparked this growth in outbound travel began at the turn of the 21st century was a combination of "increasingly loosened policies, diversifying consumer demands and profound changes in the market."

While the number of outbound tourists maintained double-digit percentage growth year on year from 2002 to 2013, the quantity of Chinese outbound tourists surpassed a record 100 million mark in 2014. Thanks to higher incomes, a massive population, rapid urbanisation and relaxation of restrictions on foreign travel, that year China overtook the USA as world's largest outbound travel market, both in terms of generated arrivals and total travel expenditure. Ever since, the country is the largest source of international tourism worldwide.

According to the report, it was China's millennial demographic the one that constitutes the majority of the country's outbound tourists. Millennials are also behind the development of the sophisticated Chinese free independent market, which is also known as FIT.

"The Chinese FIT market is extended to increasingly distant destinations. Tourists now are spread across South-East Asia, Africa, North and South America and even the Polar regions," the study suggested. The bulk (85 percent) of Chinese outbound travel is to major city destinations, which receive almost a half of all Chinese travel in the respective country. Large cities are the best equipped to suit Chinese tourists' form of travel, which is package trips, including group tours with multiple destination stops.

The report also gives detailed recommendations on strategic planning and marketing approaches when entering the Chinese outbound tourism market.

It outlines how many destinations have "successfully expanded business into the Chinese market by developing a Chinese market-focused strategic plan and taking tailored marketing approaches to adapt to the characteristics of the Chinese market."

US and Canadian companies are aware of the profitability of the young crowd and, thus, they are targeting students and providing tours of overseas schools during the months of July and August, when Chinese students take summer vacations.

Meanwhile, Japan has extended its multiple-entry visa for China's business, cultural and artistic visits from five to ten years and also simplified "the procedures of single-entry visas for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in 75 colleges and universities directly under the Ministry of Education."

The study forecasts that outbound tourism will continue to grow and destinations will continue to compete to attract Chinese tourists.