Croydon is the next stop for start-ups

21 Jan 2016 06:39 PM

Minister for the Cabinet Office Matt Hancock backed the Silicon Valley of South London during a visit to Croydon Tech City.

Matt Hancock endorsed Croydon Tech City as a blueprint for the future.

Croydon Tech City is an independent community-led tech movement and is London’s fastest-expanding tech cluster. It has become home to over a thousand digital, technical and creative start-ups since it started 4 years ago.

The Minister met a number of digital entrepreneurs and spoke at the Croydon Tech City 2016 Conference where the organisation outlined its plans for 2016.

During the visit, the Minister took a tour Croydon Tech City’s HQ in the new Number 1 Croydon building. Number 1 Croydon houses 4 floors of small and medium sized businesses, including DotMailer, Natterbox, and start-ups in the Sussex Innovation Centre.

During the visit the minister praised initiatives developed by Croydon Tech City for having a real impact on the lives of young people in the area. These include:

• Future Tech City which offers mentoring, apprenticeships and work experience to give young people the skills needed to be future tech innovators
• Apps for Good which encourages young people to create apps that change the world for the better; 45,000 students have taken part since 2010

Minister for the Cabinet Office Matt Hancock said:

The Croydon Tech scene is really going full throttle. Tech City is reaching out into the community and helping young people learn the right skills to start and grow a business, and to connect to a network.

It’s clearly the start of something – and I want the government to do all we can to get behind initiatives likes this. I’m here to listen to our new tech stars and find out what we can do to help.