Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce
On November 27, 2014, Luxembourg companies had the opportunity to join the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain for a tour of London's burgeoning tech scene.
13 Luxembourg companies participated in this visit as well as the Luxembourg Embassy in the United Kingdom. The companies represented were very diverse: Luxembourg start-up Sponsor my Event, representatives of the Big 4 Deloitte and KPMG, ICT companies such as VitalBriefing, GenCreo, EuroDNS, but also POST Telecom, Société Générale, EBRC, Luxair and many more. The Luxembourg ICT cluster was represented by their president Mr. Xavier Buck.
Attendees toured a range of innovative tech companies in London, including start-up accelerators.
Level 39
Level 39 is Europe's largest technology accelerator space for finance, retail and future cities technology companies.
Members of the Canary Wharf incubator are put in the same room as experienced entrepreneurs, technology investors and industry experts in order to accelerate their traction and access to markets.
Level 39 is a space for early-stage businesses that have potential for high-growth. Members are looking to create, test, market and deliver scalable world-class financial, retail and future cities technology products and services. The accelerator is rare as it does not take equity in member companies, instead Level 39 helps members to grow into its 'High Growth Space', a 15000 square-foot area for larger companies situated on the 42nd floor of the same building. Level 39 also plays host to innovation and accelerator programmes - these are short programmes that aim to boost a young company's growth over a concentrated period of time. Due to Level 39's partnership with Pivotal Innovations, innovation programmes can be created and crafted in-house.
The Bakery/Hangout/Citystarters
The Bakery is an accelerator for technology startups working in the advertising space. It is a startup that launched in partnership with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, the trade body for the marketing industry in the UK. The accelerator is supported by a number of large brands including BMW, Panasonic, Heinz, AB InBev and Ideal Standard, which have set aside some funding to trial new technologies that could help them with their marketing challenges. As a "second stage" accelerator, The Bakery focuses on helping startups get their first big client.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is a multilateral development bank, using investment as a tool to help build market economies. Initially focused on the countries of the former Eastern Bloc it expanded to support development in the democracies of 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Besides Europe, member countries of the EBRD are from all 5 continents. Headquartered in London, the EBRD is owned by 64 countries and two EU institutions. Despite its public sector shareholders, it invests mainly in private enterprises, together with commercial partners. Attendees had the opportunity to network and discuss potential business opportunities over lunch at the London headquarters of the EBRD in presence of Mr Miguel Marques, Alternate Director Belgium/Luxembourg/Slovenia.
Google Campus
Google began as a startup in a garage, and supporting startups remains very important to them. In 2012, Google designed Campus to equip entrepreneurs with resources they need. They define their mission as follows: "to create an environment that encourages innovation through collaboration, mentorship, and networking". With speedy wifi, a café, frequent networking and speaking events, and coworking space, Campus is seven floors dedicated to startup success. Two years ago they opened their first Campuses, Campus London and Campus Tel Aviv. They've seen incredible momentum in those two spaces. In 2013, startups at Campus London raised more 34M GBP, and created more than 570 jobs. They recently announced new Campus locations coming to Warsaw, Poland, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Madrid, Spain and Seoul, South Korea.
Central Working
Central Working provides not only a great place to work with wifi, printing, stationery and meeting rooms, but also a team who can help kick-start your business in London. Designed in collaboration with London & Partners and UKTI, they have created a service to make working in London easy and flexible. With membership options exclusively for overseas companies looking to go to the UK.
Rainmaking Loft Rainmaking
Loft is a start-up hub, set up by an international partnership of serial entrepreneurs with offices in Berlin, London and Copenhagen. The Loft in London is dedicated to supporting startups by providing them with a highly collaborative and inspiring working environment, at a significantly subsidised price. Relations and connections are being set up in Copenhagen to enlarge the Loft network in Europe. Rainmaking Loft is situated in St Katharine Dock a vibrant Marina in the heart of historic London, next to Tower Bridge and The Tower of London and a stone's throw away from Shoreditch and the City. St Katharine Docks is currently being developed into a modern tech hub in the heart of London.
A follow-up meeting will be organized at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce on January 28, 2015.
