TECH CITY UK IDENTIFIES BRITAIN’S FUTURE DIGITAL SCALEUPS

The Upscale programme from Tech City UK will power 30 of the fastest growingUK tech companies on their scaling journey

28th January 2016 –LONDON: Tech City UK today announces the 30digital companies selected to join the first intake of its new Upscale programme. Following a high level of exceptional applications and a competitive judging process, the companies selected represent the emerging digital businesses with the most potential for rapid scale and international growth.

Upscale in numbers:

•90% of companies incorporated between 2009-2013in the last six years

•Average fFund raise thus far: $8M

•Average revenue: $1.8M

•Average number of employees: 30

•Average year on year growth for the last 2 years: ??Average growth of sales revenue was 53% month-on-month - over the last three months, where indicated as primary business metric

The first intake of businessescompaniesreflects the growingth and diversity of the UK’s digital specialisms. Upscale companiesThey also demonstrate the range of sectors being disrupted by data-led innovation, where growth businesses are making sophisticated use of data analytics to help with everything from determining credit risk to choosing what to wear.

  • Improbableuses data to allow us to build simulated worldswhich lets us test the impact of introducing autonomous cars, or changing patterns of energy consumption
  • Touch Surgeryallows surgeons to practice operations in virtual reality using data to guide them step-by-step through each procedure
  • Lingvistis using mathematical and statistical models to build next generation software to make language learning almost 10 times faster
  • Growth Intel uses data and machine-learning to provide clients with an accurate market overview

The full list of Upscale companies is:

  • E-commerce: Depop, Metail, Pact Coffee, Snap Fashion, Thread, Bloom & Wild
  • Fintech: Seedrs, Elliptic, Growth Street, Property Partner, Sybenetix, Receipt Bank
  • Data & Analytics: Growth Intel, Import, Improbable, Ometria, EDITED
  • Edtech: Administrate, Kano, Lingvist, Show My Homework
  • HardwareIoT: Cocoon, M Squared Lasers, SAM Labs
  • Healthtech and biology: Touch Surgery, Zesty, Synthace
  • Other: Global App Testing, Wakelet, Appear Here

As part of the programme, the 30 Upscale companies will work with Scale Coaches thathave a proven track record of growing successful tech companies across the world. Scale Coaches - includingSkype founder NiklasZennström, Zoopla founder and CEO Alex ChestermanTechstars co-founder Brad Feld, and Unruly co-founder Sarah Wood -will share their experience to help Upscale entrepreneurs address the specific challenges encountered byfast-growthbusinesses.

Programme partners Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley LLP will support Upscaleentrepreneurs by offering bespoke legal and financial advice on scaling, including those looking to expand into new markets like China or the US.

Upscale builds on Tech City UK’s commitment to support UK digital businesses at every stage of their lifecycle and growth trajectory, from theDigital Business Academyfor very early stage entrepreneurs, toFuture Fiftyfor much later stage businesses.

Gerard Grech,CEO of Tech City UK,said: “Upscale from Tech City UK is a grassroots initiative to coach the next generation of UK-based entrepreneurs. Upscale has been built from the ground up, using direct feedback from company founders, investors and ecosystem partners. I’d like to welcome everyone aboard and thank all of our advisors and friends who helped this take off.”

“Upscale allows companies that have been through one or two rounds of funding to seek expert advice about scaling up. Our first wave of Upscale joiners represents the future of Britain’s digital industries, and mentorship from proven experts will accelerate their growth towards international breakthrough success.”

Eileen Burbidge, Chair of Tech City UK and Upscale Advisor, said: “I’m thrilled that Tech City UK is launching Upscale, which will provide valuable support and resource to some of our fastest growing and most promising digital businesses in Britain.”

In our conversation with London entrepreneurs we consistently heard that digital start-ups need support when scaling up in order to compete with the world’s best. This unique programme sets out to rectify this issue by giving these companies access to networks and mentors that can help them to take the next step professionally.”

Scale Coach Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla, said: “One thing I learned during my time with Zoopla is that any UK digital company has the potential to become a global player if they take advantage of the available resources. I’m glad to help pass this on and see what I can learn from the next generation of digital success stories.”

Scale Coach Sarah Wood, co-founder of Unruly, said: “I’m delighted to be a part of this programme. Passing on the experience I gained leading a start-up from the beginning through to acquisition will not only be rewarding on a personal level, but beneficial to the digital economy as a whole.”

Julia FowlerAlex Klein, co-founder of KanoEDITED, said: “Finding opportunities to connect with other startups is very valuable. It’s incredibly helpful for our team to meet their peers in other companies, as part of the Upscale programme, so that everyone can learn from each other.”“

Our business model is global, so it is hugely valuable for us to have access to a mentor who has built an international company across different regulatory systems. The network of fellow mentees, including many cutting edge data scientists, will help us to grapple with shared problems that are common to different sectors.”

James Sherwin-Smith,Lloyd Price,co-founder of ZestyCEO of Growth Street, said: “The UK is the fintech capital of the world and is a highly competitive market, so it is an honour to be joining the ranks of top fintech start-ups on Tech City UK programmes. We look forward to working with our mentor on how to build a brand at home and abroad ahead of any further expansion or additional round of fundingWe think this Upscale is an exciting programme to help us entrepreneurs share really difficult truths and lessons in order to scale up. We’re proud to be a part of it.”

– ENDS –

Press contact:

Ben Honan

020 7199 2213

NOTES TO EDITORS

Upscale companies

  • Administrate:provides training management and learning management software to help organisations define, track, and deliver high quality education
  • Appear Here: is the leading marketplace for short-term space. Find, book and list retail space, all online
  • Bloom & Wild: exists to make sending and receiving flowers the joy that it should be, every time
  • Cocoon: creates an all-in-one home security product that protects the most important place your life
  • Depop:is a mobile-first marketplace for consumer goods
  • EDITED:is the industry standard for how fashion retailers get their pricing and product right
  • Elliptic: identify illicit activity on the Bitcoin blockchain, and our clients include financial institutions and law enforcement agencies
  • Global App Testing: makes the feedback loop between development and test instant, helping you release high quality products in the fastest time
  • Growth Street: an alternative finance platform for SMEs, that offers borrowers great finance terms on business overdrafts and delivers a superior, risk-adjusted return for lenders
  • GrowthIntel: accelerates B2B trade using NLP, data science and machine learning – turning primary source unstructured data into predictive go-to-market intelligence
  • Import.io: is a web-data platform that puts the power of the machine-readable web in your hands. Individuals and businesses can turn messy websites into structured tables of data
  • Improbable: Improbable is developing SpatialOS; a distributed operating system that makes building simulated worlds possible
  • Kano: wants to inspire a new creative generation that has the toolkit to make, learn and play with technology
  • Lingvist: is building the next generation language learning software. The goal is to make language learning 10x faster by using mathematical and statistical methods
  • M Squared Lasers Ltd: research, design and manufacture world-class lasers and advanced photonic systems for use in a myriad of academic and commercial applications
  • Metail:creates technology that enables consumers to try on clothing online
  • Ometria:is a customer insight and marketing automation platform that helps retailers truly understand their customers, and personalise the way they communicate with each one
  • Pact Coffee: delivers incredible freshly roasted coffee by post – shipping the coffee within 7 days of roasting and grinding it at the last moment, to make it easy for people to drink fresher coffee everyday helps people drink better coffee everyday by making sure they never run out of the coffee they love
  • Property Partner: allows anyone to buy and sell shares in residential property at the click of a button
  • Receipt Bank: is the leading provider of automation to accountants and bookkeepers around the world
  • SAM Labs: creates an amazing Internet of Things education kit
  • Seedrs: is the leading equity crowdfunding platform in Europe
  • Show My Homework:is a platform that is re-inventing the century old problem of homework for education systems around the world
  • Snap Fashion: leads consumers to exactly what they want to buy online through visual search
  • Sybenetix: the working with hedge funds, banks and asset managers to systematically improve investment performance and conduct management
  • Synthace: engineers biology for applications across health, food, energy and manufacturing
  • Thread: helps men dress well using a combination of human stylists and machine learning algorithms
  • Touch Surgery: empowers and connects a global community of surgeons to make better decisions. The app takes the operating room and puts it into your pocket though virtual reality
  • Wakelet: helps people to organise content from across the web into stunning, shareable collections
  • Zesty: is the UK’s leading Digital Health Platform that allows patients to book and manage healthcare appointments, on any device, in under 60 seconds

Scale Coaches

  • NiklasZennström –Skype, Atomico
  • Brad Feld –Techstars, Foundry Group
  • Alex Chesterman –Zoopla
  • Saul Klein – LoveFilm, Seedcamp
  • Sarah Wood – Unruly
  • Greg Marsh – One Fine Stay
  • Simon Calver – LoveFilm, Moo
  • Jerry Colonna – Reboot.io
  • Alexandra Depledge – Hassle.com
  • Tracy Doree – Llustre, Spring Ventures
  • Doug Monro – Adzuna
  • Anthony Fletcher – Graze

About Tech City UK

Tech City UK is a publicly, funded non-profit team with a private sector mentality. Our focus is on creating the optimum conditions for digital technology businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive across the UK. Through our programmes and policy work, we accelerate the growth of digital businesses in London and across cities at all stages of their development. We advocate and aim to make life better for digital entrepreneurs.

We started life in 2010, with a mission to support the emerging Silicon Roundabout tech cluster in East London. Anchored in Shoreditch, we’ve grown into an organisation that accelerates the growth of digital businesses at all stages of their development, in London and cities across the UK. Examples of our programmes includeFuture Fifty,Upscale,Digital Business Academy,Tech Nation,HQ-UKandTech North.

About Upscale

Upscale is a new pilot programme designed to provide scale-up tech businesses with expertise from a set of world-class Scale Coaches – who have been influential in the growth of some of the world’s most successful digital companies.