Google opens Umbono-style incubator in London

Google has been behind startup facilities in countries such as Egypt and South Africa. Now it’s taking the model established in those countries to a more established market player: London.

The internet giant opened a seven story facility it calls Campus London, located in an area of the city known as Tech City.

According to an official Google blog post, the internet accounts for around eight percent of the UK’s economy. It claims it built Campus London because it believes “there is even more potential for entrepreneurs to energize the internet economy in the UK”.

It says its goal with Campus London is to “catalyse the startup ecosystem and build Britain’s single largest community of startups under one roof”.

The project is reportedly a collaboration between Google and partners Central Working, Tech Hub, Seedcamp and Springboard.

As well as being a space for entrepreneurs, Google claims that Campus London will host daily events for the community and run a regular speaker series.

Google claims that visitors “will have access to a cafe and co-working space, complete with high-speed Wi-Fi” and that it will welcome “members of the startup community: entrepreneurs, investors, developers, designers, lawyers, accountants, etc. and hope that this informal, highly concentrated space will lead to chance meetings and interactions that will generate the ideas and partnerships that will drive new, innovative businesses”.