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Spotify launches new tech hub in London

Emma Löfgren
Emma Löfgren - [email protected]
Spotify launches new tech hub in London
Spotify's headquarters in Stockholm. Photo: Lars Pehrson/SvD/TT

Spotify is recruiting for a new tech hub in London, its first outside Sweden and the US.

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The Swedish streaming giant said it was looking for new talent in engineering, product, design, data, research and insights – to "significantly expand" its existing workforce of some 200 employees, mainly in staff and marketing.

Spotify already has research and development hubs (R&D) in Stockholm, Gothenburg, New York, San Francisco and Boston and is now seeking to boost its London office ahead of Brexit.

"London has made the decision of where to grow our next R&D hub an extremely easy one. It has a vibrant startup community, and a wealth of great tech talent, making it the perfect location in which to build out our talented R&D team," said Jason Richman, VP Product at Spotify. "London will be one of our major hubs where we'll house key investment areas including expansion of our subscription-commerce capabilities."

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, welcomed the news which comes as a vote of confidence in the British capital's tech scene despite the uncertainties of Brexit. Earlier this month half of 112 Swedish companies (operating in the UK) quizzed told a survey that they believe the UK's decision to leave the European Union will have a negative impact on investments in the country in the next five to ten years.

"Spotify is the latest in a long line of companies who realize that London simply cannot be beaten for innovation, with a deep pool of tech talent and a complex business ecosystem that can't be replicated anywhere else," said Khan in a statement.

Spotify was developed in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, which has hit headlines in recent years for punching well above its weight in the world of tech, business and startup.

Stockholm was placed second in Europe, behind only London, for supporting digital entrepreneurs in last year's European Digital City Index, which provides information about the strength and weaknesses of local ecosystems for startups planning their future.

And Sweden was ranked second most innovative country in the Global Innovation Index in 2017, behind Switzerland in first place, but ahead of the UK in fifth place. Published by Cornell University and UN agency WIPO, it rated 127 countries' innovation abilities.

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