Royal Bank of Scotland : RocketSpace to open London campus for tech startups thanks to RBS

RocketSpace announced plans to open a state-of-the-art campus in London, designed specifically for high-growth tech startups. The tech campus will be RocketSpace's first international location, enabling the San Francisco-based company to provide startup members and corporate clients with global access to its unique community and services. Since launching in 2011, RocketSpace members have included more than 750 tech startups and 16 unicorns including Uber, Blippar, SuperCell and Spotify.

The campus will be located in RBS Regents House and will initially hold up to 1,500 members at its opening in early 2017. Services and amenities will accommodate the needs of growing tech startup teams, including office-as-a-service, a multi-gigabit Internet connection, cafe, collaborative workspaces, and a large event space. Members will have access to hands-on workshops, peer group roundtables, trend talks and networking events, among other services.

RBS partnership with RocketSpace builds on the bank's commitment to support UK entrepreneurs and the wider technology industry. RBS is already helping hundreds of entrepreneurs, creating thousands of jobs and securing millions of pounds of investment for entrepreneurs across the UK through its partnerships with Entrepreneurial Spark and GrowthBuilder.

'London's tech community continues to rapidly expand and drive innovation,' said RocketSpace Founder and CEO Duncan Logan. 'Creating a physical presence here is critical to our expansion strategy and mission to build an ecosystem for innovation to thrive, across a global network of campuses. We are very excited about working with London's tech entrepreneurs, who are creating some of the most disruptive technologies of the future.'

'RocketSpace gave us access to resources we needed when we opened our first San Francisco office and it was a great launchpad for our growth in the region,' said Ambarish Mitra, CEO and co-founder of London-based Blippar. 'Being a member gets you much more than a great office.'

'It's a real testament to the UK's thriving tech community that a pioneering company like Rocketspace has chosen the UK as their first office outside of the US,' said Simon McNamara, Chief Administrative Officer for RBS. 'We recognise that the technology industry will be a key growth area for the UK in the coming years so we are delighted to play a part in helping RocketSpace locate here, as we aim to build stronger links with innovative startups.'

The London location will also provide members with access to leading global corporations, including RocketSpace's Corporate Innovation Services clients like Tata Communications, Axel-Springer, Lufthansa Cargo and Schneider Electric. At the intersection of startups and corporates, RocketSpace has helped more than 100 corporations plug into the startup ecosystem and drive disruption in their industry.