Upscale 7.0 helps the UK’s most promising tech companies to accelerate their growth and unlock the key to scaling successfully.
Based on values of honesty, intimacy and trust, and now in its 7th year, this curated programme has been designed to reflect your scaling journey. Companies will explore fundamental growth challenges with peers and benefit from sessions delivered by expert scale coaches who’ve trodden this path before you.
Over 6-months, 30 founders and senior leadership teams will receive over 60 hours of support, delivered by over 20 scale coaches. It’s free, and we don’t take an equity stake in any businesses that join.
As we have already closed our seventh callout for the Upscale programme, you can pre-register your interest to be the first to hear about application opportunities.
London | Healthtech & Biotech | @accuRx
Bringing patients and their healthcare teams together, accuRX is making patients healthier, staff happier and health systems more efficient. Today, healthcare is a communication industry - it's where the value is added, where staff spend their time and good communication is crucial to deliver good care. accuRX’s platform powers communications between patients and their healthcare professionals.
London | Edtech | @AtomLearning
Providing affordable, high quality education for primary school students, Atom Learning is an online learning platform that covers Maths, English, and Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Filled with exceptional, teacher-made content, its smart, machine learning algorithm keeps students on their optimal learning path. The goal is to provide all students, regardless of location and background, with a high quality, affordable learning resource.
Leeds | Adtech & Marketing | @Bidnamic_
Unlocking the full potential of Google Shopping, Bidnamic is an AI marketing platform that helps retailers outrank competitors. Bidnamic uses machine learning to profile every single product to predict its optimal bid value algorithmically, applying real-time performance analysis and high-frequency bid management. It increases ad spend efficiency, market share and revenue, decreases costs, and enables the full revenue potential of every product.
London | HRtech | @joinBlink
Building the frontline of the future, Blink is addressing the biggest pain point for frontline businesses: key workers who are disconnected and unengaged. Accessible through a mobile app, it connects frontline workers to the wider business; equipping them with the information they need; and empowering them with the recognition they deserve.
Ashford | Data Analytics & Cyber security | @brytlytdb
Empowering transformational insights for businesses at the speed of thought, Brytlyt's software allows businesses to accelerate database operations up to 1,000x faster than legacy systems, by leveraging the power of graphics processor units. Its database has been independently benchmarked as the world's fastest, and is built on top of the world’s most popular open-source database.
London | Fintech | @ClauseMatch
ClauseMatch is a global leader in policy management and compliance automation. The AI-powered smart document collaboration platform enables regulated organisations to comply with their internal corporate governance documentation (policies, standards, procedures, controls).
Nottingham | HRtech | @edaysoftware
Absence matters, whether it’s unplanned or planned - but managing or booking time off can feel like a complex and problematic experience. E-days are transforming the way companies manage absence, and how people experience absence. They’re on a mission to lessen the pain and provide the tools, support and reporting for people to work smarter, happier and healthier.
Reading | @exonar
Due to the exponential increase in the volume of information and data generated and held by companies in the digital age, every company is now a data company. This elevates the risk of privacy and security breaches and fines, while diminishing organisations' ability to harness the value of its own information. Exonar allows organisations to find structured and unstructured data from any source, with unrivalled scale and detail.
London | Digital Entertainment | @GravitySketch
Creating and collaborating in 3D radically improves the efficacy and efficiency of developing physical products. Gravity Sketch is an intuitive 3D design platform that allows cross-disciplinary teams to create, collaborate, and review in an entirely new way. It removes friction from outdated workflows, helps enhance and expedite designers' creative intent, and makes collaboration in cross-functional teams faster and more cost-effective.
London | Data Analytics & Cyber security | @iProov
Protecting the identity of online users with secure authentication and great usability, iProov assures the user is genuinely present when they verify their face or palm. It detects copies, replays and deep fakes, and is already trusted by banks and Governments worldwide.
London | Fintech | @Judopay
Judopay is the leading ‘mobile centric’ payments platform, making payment tech more accessible for businesses and consumers. Connecting to more than 100 payment and technology partners, a single integration to Judopay opens the door to easy international expansion, the best fraud solutions, a full range of alternative payment methods, business intelligence and analytics, and other innovative payment technology.
London | Healthtech & Biotech | @labgeni_us
A revolution in the evolution of protein therapeutics, LabGenius develops new protein-based drugs (biologics) using their novel machine learning-driven drug discovery platform. They are drastically lowering the cost and risk associated with developing completely novel protein therapeutics, allowing them to deliver new therapeutics to many patients who don’t have access to effective treatments.
Insurtech | @Lakahq
Laka has turned insurance upside down by no longer charging customers premiums upfront. The Laka Collective (aka their customers) contribute a share of the actual claims cost incurred in a month, in a system that is fair, transparent, and democratic. The goal is to offer better and more affordable insurance and related services.
Newcastle | Adtech & Marketing | @leafgrowio
Enabling smarter social marketing, Leaf Grow empowers online businesses, big and small, to drive profitable, sustainable revenues and brand growth from their paid social advertising. Its proprietary technology and expert services helps businesses do more, with better results, in less time.
Belfast | Healthtech & Biotech | @Locatealocum
Mobilising the world's healthcare workforce, Locate a Locum allows temporary healthcare workers and organisations to connect with each other in an easy and efficient way. Working to empower the workforce, they are giving every healthcare worker and healthcare organisation the power to manage their own work life.
London | Fintech | @molofinance
Molo is the UK's first digital mortgage lender, using the power of technology and data to allow customers to get a mortgage online in a matter of minutes, rather than weeks. To achieve this, Molo has been built as a full stack lender (not a broker), going to market through a direct proposition (B2C), and leveraging their proprietary tech platform to provide customers with real time decisioning on their mortgage.
Oxford | Healthtech & Biotech | @navenioltd
Changing the way we experience the indoor world, Navenio is transforming hospitals globally by enabling healthcare teams to be in the right place at the right time, delivering the very best in patient care. Navenio’s system tasks healthcare staff and teams based on their location, achieving dramatic results where output is doubled, hidden capacity is unlocked and services to patients and between teams are transformed to new heights.
Cardiff | Edtech | @myconcern
Safeguarding children and adults around the world from abuse, harm and neglect, One Team Logic combines the best technologies with world-class safeguarding expertise. The core product, MyConcern, is used by more than 4,500 organisations such as schools, training organisations, national sporting bodies and religious organisations globally to record, monitor and manage safeguard concerns about children.
Manchester | Ecommerce & Marketplace | @Orka_tech
The way people want to work is changing, but the processes and tools that companies use to hire hourly workers have not. Orka builds products designed specifically for hourly workers, solving challenges around high-turnover, high-volumes and high-velocity employment within traditional industries, and unlocking full workforces’ potential.
London | Data Analytics & Cyber security | @redsift
Red Sift is building an open cloud platform that makes cybersecurity accessible to everyone, because they believe the answer to stopping the rise of cyber attacks is through computers, not consultants. Their platform helps people use the latest technology, like AI and Machine Learning, to unlock data that already exists about threats, and turn them into active protection.
Cambridge | Deeptech | @riverlane_io
Pioneering quantum software, Riverlane is building the operating system for quantum computers. Over the next year their operating system will run on 20% of the world’s quantum computers, with an ultimate mission to run every program on every quantum computer in the world.
Bristol | Energy | @RovcoSubsea
As the energy market evolves, Rovco is disrupting the sector, combining innovative robotic platforms and cutting-edge technology to support energy transitions. Rovco are pushing the boundaries of offshore robotics, optimising operations and reducing the need for offshore teams. They support clients automation and decarbonisation strategies, driving operational efficiency, saving money and time.
London | Healthtech & Biotech | @snhealth_uk
Making healthy living second nature, Second Nature helps people lose weight in a healthy way. Providing people with world class technology and coaching to help them achieve their goals, their vision is to eradicate obesity and type 2 diabetes.
London | Artificial Intelligence | @SenSat_AI
Providing industries with the understanding to shape a sustainable world, Sensat is building an intelligent eco-system that translates the real world into a version understandable to AI. This technology will help us to build a more sustainable future, using the wealth of new insight to help humans make better decisions.
Cambridge | Deeptech | @speechmatics
Powering applications that require mission-critical, accurate speech recognition, Speechmatics®’ any-context speech recognition engine processes millions of hours of transcription worldwide every month in more than 30 languages. Their speech recognition technology is used by enterprises in scenarios such as contact centres, CRM, consumer electronics, security, media & entertainment and software.
London | Insurtech | @gosuperscript
Superscript is a business insurance challenger, with an ambition to be the global leader of small business insurance. It provides personalised, flexible and scalable subscription-based insurance designed specifically to meet the ever-evolving needs of ambitious businesses. Modernising the broken insurance experience, Superscript simplifies and puts customers at the heart of the insurance journey.
Brighton | Fintech | @http://www.tillo.io/
Powering the future of gift cards, Tillo connects the world’s most popular brands with businesses looking for exciting new ways to reward and incentivise. Unlocking a world of new opportunity to drive sales and reach new global audiences, their digital platform connects brands with businesses across its extensive network, opening up multiple new distribution channels and allowing them to manage sales, all in real-time.
Manchester | Fintech | @totalprocessing
Providing complete global coverage, Total Processing is proudly pioneering a payment strategy for local and multinational businesses, through access to the world’s leading payment gateway and acquiring options, with built-in risk management and data analytics. Their accredited network of strategic partners provides businesses of all sizes with a fully integrated omnichannel software solution called Total Control.
London | HRtech | @unmindhq
Unmind helps employees to lead more fulfilling and balanced lives by changing the way organisations think about mental health. Their workplace mental health platform empowers employees to measure, understand, and improve their mental wellbeing.
Bristol | Edtech | @virtilabs
Virti uses XR, artificial intelligence and gamification to help employees learn faster and remember training for longer. Virti’s mission is to make experiential education affordable and accessible for everyone. It uses virtual and augmented reality coupled with AI to transport users into difficult to access environments and safely assesses them under pressure to improve their performance.
Oxford | Healthtech & Biotech | @vitaccess
Giving patients a voice, Vitaccess are creating powerful, real-world evidence platforms to quantify patients’ experience of treatments and illness. Their smartphone app and real-time data analytics dashboards together provide biopharmaceutical clients with evidence of how drugs and treatments affect patients' quality of life every day, outside of the clinical setting.
London | Enterprise Software & Cloud Computing | @Viziblapp
Helping companies to work better, together, Vizibl is the world’s leading supplier collaboration and innovation platform. It allows both buyers and suppliers to manage all aspects of their relationship more effectively to deliver mutual value. Vizibl’s software makes every aspect of the relationship life-cycle transparent, so that enterprise companies can align on their governance, strategy and develop great ideas together with their partner ecosystem.
London | Insurtech | @yulife
YuLife is on a mission to inspire life, and turn financial products into a force for good. By harnessing the power of gamification and behavioural science, YuLife insurance rewards healthy living and puts everyday wellness within reach of everyone. It equips members with a game-like app to access discounts and vouchers from leading brands in return for completing everyday wellness activities, thus incentivizing healthy living.
Learn more about the Upscale 6.0 cohort
See all Tech Nation programme alumni
Coaching and mentoring from world-leading scale coaches, helping your teams scale and develop support networks beyond the Upscale programme.
Founder and c-suite sessions, and online resources designed to tackle fundamental growth barriers such as; culture, talent, international expansion and financing.
The world has changed, and so have we – with our sessions being run online for the foreseeable future. Learn from and with programme peers and connect to Tech Nation’s prestigious alumni network, including 160 Upscale founders who have been through it all.
Get the recognition you deserve as a successful, fast-growth UK tech company, through Tech Nation marketing, press and government, and get access to the tools you need to meet corporates and investors.
Upscale 7.0 supports the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies to scale faster, together.
A company might hit the baseline criteria, but the final selection takes four key criterion into account; value proposition, traction, potential for scale and programme suitability.
Guidance: Upscale typically works with companies experiencing rapid growth approx 10% month-on-month. With COVID, we understand that some companies may have experienced variances over the last 6 months.
With that in mind, typical Upscale companies are:
Each month, you will meet with other Upscale founders in designated groups of 8-10 to work on what will make you more effective and resilient as a founder. Using the power of intimate groups, founder circles are designed to provide emotional support to founders, as well as help crack through big challenges together and boost skills and confidence as a startup leader along the way.
There’s no bravado or egos, just a safe space with supportive fellow founders and a group coach, leading to a transformational support group that is as open and honest, while developing your own coaching skills as a leader.
Fast tracking future leaders or upskilling managers in times of rapid change is crucial to building an organisation that can scale, as well as pivotal in retaining and training high performers (read how Farewill do this here).
Support for your junior managers impacts not just your managers but their direct reports, helping to drive engagement, improve wellbeing and reduce turnover. Upscale is excited to bring your nominated middle-management a short programme of support to help them scale with your business and develop their leadership skills and style with professional support.
“Quite simply, it’s the best scaleup programme around. It’s an incredibly well thought-through format, and is an unparalleled learning & networking opportunity – not only for the founders, but also for the whole senior leadership team. I can’t recommend it highly enough!”
Tessa Clarke, Co-founder, OLIO
“I think the beauty of it is that it’s other companies talking to us who’ve been through the same challenges, who’ve learnt through that experience. They’re passing down that knowledge which is amazing.”
Suman Saha, Co-Founder & Medical Director, Doctify
Scroll through to see the calibre of our expert judges
Aron Gelbard
Founder & CEO, Bloom & Wild
Charlotte Barttelot
Investment Manager, Mercia
ZeShaan Shamsi
Partner, People Collective
Francesca Warner
Co-founder, Diversity VC
Max Bautin
Founding Partner, IQ Capital
Divinia Knowles
Founder, COO Roundtable
Giovanni Nani
European Lead, Aquiline Technology Growth
Mandeep Singh
Co-founder, Trouva
Maria Wagner
Investment Director, Beringea
