Sainsbury’s, Volkswagen, and Fidelity International among European businesses working with Pivotal to re-tool for the software age

• Pivotal invests in a state of the art software innovation hub in the heart of Shoreditch’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’ in London to collaborate with the UK and Europe’s most admired companies
• Pivotal is making a significant commitment to the UK through operations and personnel investments to expand its presence
• Pivotal’s new UK innovation hub in London expects to grow to over 200 employees by the end of 2017
• European automotive, banking, insurance, service provider and retail giants are adopting Pivotal’s leading modern cloud platform, and next-generation software development methodologies to innovate at a speed and velocity primarily associated with Silicon Valley-based technology companies
• Minister of State for Digital and Culture Matt Hancock hails Pivotal’s commitment as a significant boost to UK’s thriving tech sector which will be instrumental in helping businesses bolster their digital capabilities

Pivotal®, the company accelerating digital transformation for enterprises, today announced the launch of its new flagship software innovation hub in the heart of Silicon Roundabout, London. Pivotal has made this significant commitment in response to the growing sense of urgency from the UK and Europe’s largest companies to acquire modern software development practices and a next-generation cloud platform to level the playing field against their software-driven competitors. Pivotal has been credited with shaping the software development cultures of many of Silicon Valley’s most admired companies, with investment from Ford, GE, Microsoft, EMC, and VMware.

With over 200 Pivotal employees in London expected by the end of 2017, UK and European enterprise customers will use the state of the art innovation hub to create compelling digital experiences with modern software methodologies, utilise one of the world’s most powerful modern cloud platforms—Pivotal Cloud Foundry—to build and run software at start-up speeds, and bolster analytics capabilities using Pivotal Big Data Suite.

 Emma Hammond, Global PaaS Product Owner, at Fidelity International said, “Through our partnership with Pivotal over the past two years, Fidelity International has been able to access the benefits and real potential of agile software development using Pivotal Cloud Foundry within our business. The combination of innovative software, excellent coaching and a dynamic and contemporary working environment in the Pivotal London office provides a winning formula for companies to explore both the technological and cultural opportunities required for transformational change when adopting cloud.”

 Tim Lennox, Senior Manager, Digital and Technology at Sainsbury’s said, “Our vision at Sainsbury’s is to serve our customers ‘wherever and whenever they want’ and technology is fundamental to being able to achieve this. We have built up a leading edge technology capability at Sainsbury’s with over 350 engineers delivering products that are making our customers lives easier everyday. One of our development teams has been pairing with Pivotal over the past few months as they share our same belief of being ruthlessly customer focused and have key skills in the ability to innovate and deliver with the speed and agility of a start up.”

“When Europe’s most storied companies such as Sainsbury’s, Volkswagen, and Fidelity International learn to create software like Silicon Valley-based companies, and combine that with their decades of historic data, industry expertise, and financial leverage, they have the unique opportunity to become the new disruptors in their industries,” said Rob Mee, CEO, Pivotal. “The UK continues to be one of the world’s most important financial centers, which is why Pivotal is deeply committed to helping the UK and Europe’s largest enterprises leverage its entrepreneurial spirit and depth of talent to create differentiated products and services for their customers.”

 Pivotal will use its flagship innovation hub to pass on this philosophy and help UK and European enterprises strengthen digital innovation. Pivotal’s European customers will use the office as a base to learn, study, and implement Pivotal’s modern software development methodology that is at the heart of modern disruptive businesses.

 Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital and Culture said, “We have worked hard to make the UK a vibrant, exciting and profitable place for tech businesses to locate and grow– and it’s fantastic to hear Pivotal has decided to expand its team here. This latest investment is another significant boost to our thriving tech sector and will be instrumental in helping UK businesses boost their digital capabilities.”

 “Pivotal has deconstructed the success of the digital disruptor and brings both the technologies and user-centric, iterative software development practices to allow any established enterprise to operate with greater business agility and efficiency,” said Alan Coad, Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA, Pivotal. “Embracing this new way of working ushers a cultural transformation with many of our biggest customers across the automotive, banking, insurance, service provider and retail industries—allowing them to embrace Pivotal’s modern software development methodologies and next-generation Pivotal Cloud Foundry platform to maintain their leadership position.”

 The launch of Pivotal’s new UK innovation hub in London comes at a time of economic volatility in the UK. However, with this announcement, Pivotal has backed the UK and London and will remain at the heart of and continue to lead Europe’s tech scene. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, this week begins a five-day trip to America and Canada to spread the message that London is open for business and is a key destination for North American investment and tourism.

Deputy Mayor for Business Rajesh Agrawal said, “With access to world-class tech talent and a strong culture of entrepreneurship, London is Europe’s leading destination for American tech businesses looking to expand into overseas markets. Having grown my own financial technology company in London, I have seen first-hand the opportunities for digital companies such as Pivotal that are looking to scale-up in London. I look forward to joining the Mayor and the exciting London businesses on this week’s trade mission to North America to show that London is open to business, trade, talent and collaborations with other global technology hubs such as New York and Chicago.”