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Web Startups Reboot 'London 2.0'

by jordan | February 21, 2007 at 08:32 am | 310 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

Any of you guys in on this? One of my friends is a partner in a music software company, and another lays fibre-optic cables.

One thing I really liked about living in London was that the city was years ahead of North America in mobile technology but still had hot and cold water coming from different taps. I miss the city very much and must revisit before my Virgin air miles expire.

Some of the web's most innovative developers might want to check the temperature when they arrive for the Future of Web Apps conference this week -- in tech circles, this city is getting hot again.

During the dot-com boom, London was the place to be after San Francisco and New York. A rash of startups and new-media agencies made London one of the net's epicenters, turning low-rent neighborhoods like the East End into hot spots full of trendy live/work lofts.

The crash leveled expectations, but three years later, London is swinging again. Some are calling it "London 2.0."

"It is happening again, there is a real buzz," said Sam Sethi, ex-editor of TechCrunch UK, who now blogs about European web startups at Vecosys.

The Future of Web Apps conference, with talks by Digg founder Kevin Rose and TechCrunch's Mike Arrington, is one sign that the city is back.