Published: 1 March, 2016
 

DESPITE continued economic worries and concerns about the UK’s role within Europe, there are signs that many of London’s technology and entertainment companies are shrugging off the gloom with some innovative new products and services.

As the nation’s capital, it’s no surprise to find that London is showing impressive growth compared to the rest of the nation. And it’s the blend of an international workforce, vibrant cultural scene and the new online environment that is illustrating the city’s role as one of Europe’s more prominent high-tech hubs that has delivered advances in fashion retail and trendy online slots games.

Providing digital solutions to simple city problems is a key way in which many companies have flourished. Since it began in 2012, Hassle quickly developed from its origins as a London-based cleaning service provider that allowed home-owners to digitally book a pre-vetted cleaner, to being bought out for £23 million by the German firm Helpling.

And whilst Amazon have provided a catch-all solution for a broad range of products, London’s Lyst have delivered a specially-curated fashion service that successfully allows users to browse and purchase luxury brands with the minimum of fuss.

London’s role as one of the entertainment centres of the world has also helped it gain ground in the  new digital environment thanks to brands such as Improbable. This gaming company recently gained £20 million in funding to deliver innovative approaches to open-world gaming that could have special significance with the advance of virtual reality technologies. 

Any visitor to Camden will have witnessed the growing steam-punk trend in fashion, music and film. And the trend has been given increased exposure in the gaming world thanks to companies such as Mr Smith Casino who’ve delivered a steampunk themed slots game that features alongside their range of user-friendly simulations of popular table games that take full advantage of increasingly-popular mobile technologies.

But Camden’s vibrant musical scene has inspired so much more than simple games of online slots, as Shazam have revolutionised the way that we discover music from their offices in Hammersmith. By simply holding a mobile up to music and firing up the Shazam app, music fans can instantly find out the name of the track, the artist and even get song lyrics.

And with Shazam’s technology now inspiring apps that help gardeners identify plants, it’s just another sign that London’s innovation is showing no signs of slowing down.