SwiftKey/Microsoft photos
SwiftKey (originally TouchType Limited) was formed as an AI keyboard start-up in co-founder Ben Medlock's shed in 2008, a decade before AI finally started to explode (after various false starts in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc). Its investors included Stephen Fry.
It started expanding in 2011 having moved to offices in North Lambeth - during which time its predictive Android keyboard reached one million installs - before moving again to Union Street in Southwark. Still expanding, it moved again to Southwark Bridge Road as the keyboard became more and more popular.
The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 and in early 2017 was moved over to Microsoft's offices in the boondocks of Paddington, making the cycle to work jump from a modest eight-mile round trip to around 18 miles.
In 2018 the keyboard celebrated the milestone of 100 million active users, and by around 2022/23 was being shown on Google Play as having achieved over one billion installs. At the point of leaving the company, Nosher was responsible for 8% of the Android app's codebase.
SwiftKey's keyboard remains popular and has had various magazine articles written about it, in particular in Wired. It has also appeared in numerous XKCD cartoons, giving it the ultimate geek cred.
- The Last Trip to the SwiftKey Office, Paddington, London - 23rd February 2022
- A SwiftKey Memorial Service, Covent Garden, London - 13th March 2020
- Sunday Lunch and a SwiftKey Trip to Nando's, Thornham and Bayswater - 22nd February 2020
- SwiftKey Innovation Week, Paddington, London - 27th February 2019
- The SwiftKey Reunion Brunch, Regent Street, Cambridge - 12th January 2019
- SwiftKey's Ten Year Anniversary Reunion, Selwyn College, Cambridge - 11th January 2019
- A SwiftKey Lunch, Porchester Place, Edgware Road, London - 27th June 2018
- SwiftKey's Hundred Million, Paddington, London - 13th June 2018
- A SwiftKey Innovation Week, Paddington, London - 27th July 2017
- SwiftKey does Namco Funscape, Westminster, London - 20th June 2017
- Grandad's Fire and SwiftKey Moves Offices, Eye and Paddington - 23rd January 2017
- SwiftKey's Last Days in Southwark and a Taxi Protest, London - 18th January 2017
- SwiftKey Does Laser Tag, Charlton and Greenwich, London - 29th November 2016
- A SwiftKey Innovation Week, Southwark, London - 22nd April 2016
- A SwiftKey Power Cut, Southwark Bridge Road, London - 4th March 2016
- SwiftKey Innovation Week, Southwark Bridge Road, London - 7th October 2015
- Fred's Cast and a SwiftKey Lunch, Waterloo, London - 18th August 2015
- It's a SwiftKey Knockout, Richmond Rugby Club, Richmond, Surrey - 7th July 2015
- SwiftKey Does AirSoft, Epsom, Surrey - 11th June 2015
- SwiftKey Innovation Nights, Westminster, London - 19th December 2014
- SwiftKey Innovation Day, and Pizza Pub, Westminster and Southwark - 14th August 2014
- SwiftKey Innovation Days, The Haymarket, London - 27th June 2014
- Brantham Dereliction, and a SwiftKey Photoshoot, Suffolk and Southwark - 29th April 2014
- SwiftKey Innovation, The Hub, Westminster, London - 21st February 2014
- SwiftKey's Arcade Cabinet, and the Streets of Southwark, London - 5th December 2013
- SwiftKey Innovation Day and a Walk around Westminster, London - 16th August 2013
- A SwiftKey Hack Day, Westminster, London - 31st May 2013
- Lord Green Visits SwiftKey, Southwark, London - 21st November 2012
- TouchType Office Life and Pizza, Southwark, London - 20th October 2012
- A TouchType Office Fire Drill, Southwark Bridge Road, London - 6th October 2012
- A TouchType Hack Day, University Arms, Cambridge - 27th September 2012
- TouchType Office Life, Linton House, Union Street, Southwark - 25th July 2012
- TouchType does Bletchley Park, Bletchley, Bedfordshire - 20th July 2012
- Stephen Fry Visits TouchType, Southwark, London - 19th June 2012
- A TouchType Hack Day, University Union, Bridge Street, Cambridge - 22nd March 2012
- TouchType does Wagamama, South Bank, London - 6th March 2012
- The Bump, TouchType at Nandos, and Isobel does London - 3rd February 2012
- A TouchType Christmas, Southwark, London - 15th December 2011
- TouchType does Nandos, Southwark Arches, London - 29th November 2011
- TouchType at Silverstone, Northamptonshire - 22nd October 2011
- TouchType Moves Offices and a Night in The Kings Head, Brockdish and London - 19th October 2011
- Paul's TouchType Birthday and the Old Chap Visits, London and Brome, Suffolk - 9th October 2011
- BSCC at Roydon, TouchType's Hack Day, and a Summer Fair, Cambridge and Diss - 1st September 2011
- TouchType at Cubana, BSCC at Gislingham, and Tas Pide, London and Suffolk - 12th June 2011