Van Der Kleij to head Level39 accelerator at London's Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf Group  in London England today announced plans to open a new accelerator that targets financial technology. To be located on the 39th floor of One Canada Square, the accelerator will be called, naturally enough, Level39.  The accelerator is expected to be operational in January. They're thinking big: it will occupy 29,000 square feet -- the entire space of the 39th floor -- and will include office space, a large event area, and what they call 'sandboxes'  where clients can test new products. The project is being led by tech entrepreneur Eric Van Der Kleij (pictured here), who was head of Tech City Investment Organisation. Before he joined Tech City, he was Before joining TCIO, he helped establish UKTI’s Global Entrepreneur Program.

Pricing, startup funding, etc, haven't been announced yet. This is pretty pricy real estate for hungry startups to locate in, so it will be interesting to learn more details.

There's been a flurry of major accelerator/incubator announcements in London in the last few months. Some that come to mind that we've reported on here include the FinTech Innovation Lab, Vodaphone's incubator in Tech City, HealthBox, and the iCity incubator. That's on top of the activities of SeedCamp and others.