Tech City UK is thrilled to announce the 33 early stage tech companies that will be joining the Upscale programme this year. Upscale is Tech City UK’s rated six month programme to help the most promising early stage startups to begin their scaling journey, under the mentorship of some of the UK’s most successful tech entrepreneurs including Lastminute.com founders Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman; successful investor and Lovefilm founder Saul Klein; Candy Crush creator Riccardo Zacconi and Lesley Eccles, founder of FanDuel.com.
The 33 companies that have been selected for the programme represent some of the finest early stage talent out there and contain some of the companies that could grow into the next generation of digital household names. The calibre of companies applying to join the mentoring programme has leapt this year and we are confident this cohort will follow in the footsteps of last year’s Upscale companies, producing some outstanding new tech businesses.
The companies include:
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CharlieHR - an HR platform for small companies with big aspirations
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Elvie - a consumer tech company that develops wearable wellness technology for women
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Monzo - the challenger bank that will participate in Upscale during the year it receives its full banking licence
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Boiler Room - the online live music broadcaster, already a huge name in the clubbing scene
KEY STATS:
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26 businesses from London, 7 from the regions
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Average number of employees is 31
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Average funding raised: $4.1 million
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Consumer facing companies: 18%
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Business to Business companies: 42%
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Companies addressing both consumer/ business markets: 39%
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Average revenues per year: just over $1 million
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Average company age: 4 years old
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Biggest single group of companies from the Fintech sector - 15%
Regions:
Almost a third of the companies selected come from outside London, showing that the UK’s tech sector is creating jobs and opportunity nationwide. The full contribution of the UK’s digital and tech sector to the UK economy will be revealed by Tech City UK in the coming weeks when it publishes its Tech Nation 2017 report, publishing the statistics and stories behind the rapidly expanding digital economy. Companies from outside London include Cambridge Intelligence (Cambridge), Cronofy (Nottingham), LivingLens (Liverpool) and DueCourse (Manchester).
Sectors:
The Upscale companies represent a wide spread of sectors and reflects the UK’s strength in certain areas, for example in fintech and e-commerce. The increasing importance of sectors like data analytics and marketplaces is also evident.
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Data & Analytics: Streetbees, Signal Media, LivingLens, Cambridge Intelligence
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Digital advertising & marketing: StoryStream
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Digital entertainment: Mixcloud, Boiler Room
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E-commerce & Marketplace: Wolf & Badger, Paddle, Urban Massage, Trouva
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Edtech: Firefly Learning, Mastered, pi-top
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Enterprise Software & Cloud Computing: Cronofy, GeoSpock, Grabyo, everyLIFE Technologies
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Healthtech and biology: Echo, Live Better With
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Hardware & Devices: Blaze
Gerard Grech, chief executive of Tech City UK, said: “One of the objectives of Tech City UK is to accelerate the growth of the country’s digital and tech sector. The companies that join our Upscale programme have already overcome significant hurdles and have the makings of brilliant businesses. It’s also great to see so many regions and sectors represented in the cohort, demonstrating the great diversity this country has when it comes to digital technology, as highlighted by the Prime Minister in her recent industrial strategy announcement. ”
“It’s particularly great to see four fantastic female founders - Tania Boler, Tamara Rajah, Tugce Bulut and Emily Brooke - amongst the new intake but the industry needs to work harder to make sure that women are getting to senior roles in the sector. There are many successful women in tech and we must promote these role models and inspire more girls to consider tech as a job where they can build an amazing, global career that can change people’s lives.”
Eileen Burbidge, general partner of Passion Capital and chair of Tech City UK, said: “We welcome the next cohort to our Upscale programme. They can be confident that some of the most experienced, brightest minds in the tech ecosystem will be helping them to build their business over the coming year. We would like to thank all our partners and supporters who have helped to put together the programme and make it what it is by devoting time and effort to coaching and mentoring these young businesses.”
Tania Boler, chief executive and founder of Elvie which develops wearable technology for women, said: “I’m extremely excited about taking part in Upscale. Our company is poised on the brink of making huge breakthroughs and I’m looking forward to learning more from the Scale Coaches and from sharing experiences with my fellow companies. We really want to make a mark with Elvie in 2017 and I’m certain Upscale will help us do that.”
Carl Wong, CEO of Liverpool-based LivingLens, which provides brands and agencies with a way of searching and using hours of video content, said: “Joining Upscale is a huge opportunity for our company and I’m excited about exchanging ideas and inspiration with people who are at the same stage of growth as us.”
As part of the programme, the 33 Upscale companies will work with experienced and recognised Scale Coaches. This year, some of the graduates of Tech City UK’s first Upscale programme will return to mentor the new intake, demonstrating one of the strengths of the UK’s tech ecosystem where successful companies work hard to help the next generation. Companies will take part in as many as 30 sessions and socials, that are designed around their specific needs. The challenges discussed will include maintaining team morale, managing the board, raising future funds and taking the company global.
FULL LIST OF COMPANIES:
Blaze - urban mobility brand providing technology for bike sharing schemes and consumer cyclists globally
Boiler Room - online music broadcaster of live events. Six years old, it has now hosted shows in 100 cities worldwide
Bulb - an online renewable gas and electricity supplier, competing with the likes of British Gas and NPower
Cambridge Intelligence - an artificial intelligence company that helps companies see patterns and insights in their data
Chargifi - Chargifi supplies networked, wireless power to public venues like coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sporting arenas, offices and transport hubs
CharlieHR - a free HR platform for small companies
Cronofy - a cloud computing company that allows people to check the availability of people in real time
Curve - allows you to combine all your credit cards into one Curve card and link with an app to monitor your spending
DueCourse - online invoice factoring business
Echo - an app that takes the pain out of repeat prescriptions
Elvie - a company that focuses on women’s wellness with wearable tech
everyLIFE Technologies - provides a mobile platform for managing social care in real time, working with the NHS and social care providers
Firefly Learning - online tool for teachers, parents and schools to monitor pupils’ progress at school
GeoSpock - database technology that enables extreme-scale, real-time geo-spatial and multi-dimensional big data applications
Goodlord - end to end digital platform allowing letting agents, tenants and landlords to complete a rental transaction
Grabyo - Edit, publish and share video across mobile devices
Live Better With - community and marketplace for products for people living with cancer
LivingLens - allows companies to search hours of market research video by key word
Mastered - online courses for fashion professionals
Mixcloud - audio streaming service that allows users to listen to radio from all over the world
Moneyfarm - online wealth manager whose investors include Allianz, one of the world’s largest insurers
Monzo - one of a new breed of challenger banks. The mobile banking app receives its banking licence this year
Paddle - provides e-commerce and digital infrastructure for software businesses
pi-top - provides DIY laptop and desktop products for STEM education
Pockit - banking startup aimed at those excluded from mainstream banking
Poq - app commerce solution for major retailers
Signal Media - Artificial Intelligence-powered new monitoring
StoryStream - Live storytelling for brands: content curation and publishing
Streetbees - market research insights from around the world, collected through artificial intelligence and geo-location
Trouva - curated online shopping from 150 independent boutiques
Trussle - the online mortgage adviser, built upon a database of thousands of mortgage products
Urban Massage - booking massage online
Wolf & Badger - global online marketplace for independent brands
FULL LIST OF SCALE COACHES:
FOUNDERS
Alexandra Depledge, Founder Hassle.com
Anne-Marie Huby, Co-Founder Just Giving
Brent Hoberman, Co-Founder Lastminute.com
David Buttress, Founder Just Eat
Greg Marsh, Co-Founder One Fine Stay
Jess Butcher, Co-Founder Blippar
Joel Gasgione, Founder Buffer
Lesley Eccles, Co-Founder FanDuel
Martha Lane Fox, Co-Founder Lastminute.com
Michael Acton Smith, Founder Mind Candy
Patrick Campbell, Founder Price Intelligently
Riccardo Zarcconi, Founder King
Saul Klein, Co-Founder Lovefilm
Toby Moore, Founder CTO Space Ape Games
Wendy Tan White, Founder Moon Fruit
LEADERSHIP
Amir Kfir, Board Member, Million Peacemakers
Anthony Fletcher, CEO Graze
Joe Zawadzki, CEO MediaMath
Lenn Kurztman, CFO Threat Quotient
Matt Buckland, Head of Talent Lyst
Shane Corstrorphine, GM Skyscanner
INVESTORS
Dan Hynes, Partner Atomico
Simon Calver, Chairman Moo
Siraj Khaliq, Partner Atomico
Suranga Chandratillake, Balderton Capital
Tom Hulme, Partner Google Ventures
Tracy Doree, Partner Kindred Capital
For more information go to: http://upscaleuk.com/
