Local tech companies Atmos Marketing and Inspiratica have merged and will now be called Northern.

It's a move that will mean expansion on both the job front and for downtown London.

It will also put London on the map as one of the largest e-commerce full service agencies in North America.

"It creates synergy and it actually reduces the cost for our customer or the retailer and wholesaler we are working with, and it allows us to compelete projects faster and more effectively," says CEO Mike Delorenzi.

The new company now has a total of 40 employees, with 40 more needing to be hired.

"I think this is big news for London and we are excited to drum up as many jobs as we can. Already we are seeing the growth and already our clients are super excited," says Corey Dubeau, VP Digital of Northern.

The team is projecting rapid growth over the next couple of years which means the 5,000 square foot building they currently reside in is not big enough.

Now they're looking for a 30,000 square foot space.

"The next big thing for us is really finding an office, so we saw what happened with the Roundhouse and what it did to SoHo and bringing other businesses to this area. So we just want to do that again and keep developing London as much as we can," says Dubeau

There are over 300 tech companies in London employing more than 8,000 and a majority of the companies operate out of downtown.

"That's why we have recently launched a fiber optic assistance program where we want more tech companies downtown to be able to access better broadband connectivity. It's one of the many infrastructure resources needed to grow this tech sector significantly," says Kapil Lakhotia of the London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC).

The LEDC has also recently hired on a new workforce development resource to help growing tech companies recruit new staff.

Recruitment is already well underway at Northern.

"We're conducting training courses on the weekends here in our office. Where we are bringing students in from across the province and they spend the day with us and we take them through some testing and training related to web development specifically," says Delorenzi.

For information on how to apply to Northern, go to www.northern.co