A software manufacturer from Denmark is bringing 80 workers to downtown London, filling a tech hub in the core.

Distroscale

Trackunit will occupy two floors and 21,000 square feet (1,900 square metres) at The Cube, on Talbot Street, after it bought a product line from ZTR Control Systems on Green Valley Road.

Trackunit bought the IOT, or “internet of things,” division from ZTR and spun it off into its own London office that will be filled with former ZTR workers by the end of October.

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“This is central in London and it is a tech hub.  We want to be part of that. We want to bring people downtown,” said Emily Moroz, people and talents business partner at Trackunit.

“There are many things to see and do here, there is a lot happening, like going to restaurants — more than on the outskirts.”

ZTR and Trackunit were competitors in developing technology for construction equipment. The “internet of things” could, for example, wire a backhoe to the web so that manufacturers, contractors or rental businesses could get data from those machines for diagnostics, environmental impact, theft recovery and tracking the general use of the machinery.

“This is great news for London’s growing tech scene as well as welcoming new workers to office space downtown,” said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.

“They will bring new energy to the core. It will be good for the downtown.”

The company is forecasting growth of 20 to 30 per cent for 2023, meaning its downtown office may see growth and more hires, said Daniela Lazarevic, marketing director for Trackunit.

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“In terms of growth, London is where we want to be. We see this as our Canadian hub and this is where we will focus our recruitment efforts,” she said.

“We are building our presence in the Pacific Rim and in the U.S. and this is where we want to be to build a pipeline. It is where we want to focus.”

The IOT sector of the construction market is expected to grow globally to C$22 billion by 2024, according to data from Trackunit.

Since it had an existing pool of skilled, experienced workers from ZTR, it made sense to keep the new office in London. In addition, there is infrastructure here to grow the business with schools such as Western University and Fanshawe College creating a talent pool, Moroz said.

“We are finding people we want in smaller cities. We want to invest in that,” she added.

Trackunit also has about 20 additional staff who work remotely and about 20 employees in a Kitchener office.

With 16 offices globally, including one in Chicago, and about 400 workers around the world, the company will have about 25 per cent of its total workforce in Southwestern Ontario following the London announcement.

Another tech business occupies the top floor of The Cube, making it fully occupied.