Tech Nation has launched this year’s Upscale programme, designed to support scaleups on the road towards raising Series B investment.

Half of this year’s cohort are headquartered outside London, showcasing the contribution and economic vibrancy early-stage companies bring across the regions, with cities like Sheffield, Manchester, and Edinburgh being notable scaleup hubs.

Upscale 2024 will focus on overcoming scaleup-specific challenges, with expert-led workshops on themes such as: building and managing larger teams, expanding into new markets, and managing increased financial complexity.

Participants will also benefit from peer-to-peer support and access to a wide network of successful entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, policy makers and investors via Founders Forum Group’s global network.

All participants will be founders and C-suite members of UK-headquartered scaleups – defined as companies with 20% month-on-month growth, and either £5m+ series A funding or £1.5m-5m revenue. 

Carolyn Dawson, CEO of Founders Forum and Tech Nation, said: “Upscale is designed to support founders of our highest potential scaleups to unlock economic benefits the length and breadth of the UK. 

“The path from Series A to B offers a unique set of challenges – whether that’s regional expansion, an increased product range, or growing a larger team – and we will support them through this transition to grow and scale their businesses.”

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Tessa Clarke, co-founder and CEO of Olio, an Upscale alumni, said: “Quite simply, it’s the best scaleup programme around. It’s an incredibly well thought-through format, and is an unparalleled learning and networking opportunity – not only for the founders, but also for the whole senior leadership team. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

The 2024 cohort

Aegiq

Designs and builds high-performance quantum photonics hardware for communications and computing applications

Antavo

Providing best-in-class technology to manage experience-based, paid, and lifestyle loyalty programs online, in-store, or on mobile

Aveni

Using the latest in AI to automate and innovate, empowering businesses to achieve exceptional productivity and compliance outcomes

Cadro

Innovative WealthTech solutions for client acquisition, financial planning, portfolio management, and digital brokerage

Carmoola

Motoring fintech start-up which helps car buyers calculate their budget in 60 seconds

Emperia

Virtual Reality Platform for Art, Retail & Fashion

Enthuse

Our donations, fundraising and event reg tech puts your charity centre stage, letting you focus on your campaigns, supporters, and beneficiaries

Focaldata

AI-powered platform gives clients and our internal teams the ability to 10x their output and ensure insight can power better decisions and faster growth

Fuuse

A charge point management platform that is designed to maximise the value of electric vehicle (EV) chargers

Gravity Industries Ltd

Making human flight a reality

Kuberno

Global entity governance

Little Journey

Little Journey aims to support all children to better health through data-driven, personalised care

Material Evolution

Material Evolution empowers the industrial sector to build a better climate future, for today & tomorrow

Mission Zero Technologies

Developing technology to efficiently recover CO2 from the atmosphere

Mopo / Mobile Power Ltd

A pay-per-use battery technology company delivering sustainable energy to individuals and businesses across Africa

Nu Quantum

A quantum networking start-up building the entanglement fabric essential to scaling quantum computers

Passion Fruit

Platform to find vetted, flexible, quality marketing talent

Puraffinity

The Smart Adsorbent Materials Company for sustainable water solutions 

Qflow

Reducing project carbon and supporting sustainable construction

Summize

Contract Lifecycle Management software that embeds contract workflows and AI

Surf Security

The work environment built for the modern enterprise

tepeo

A cleaner alternative to your existing boiler that doesn’t release any pollution directly and stores heat at the greenest times

Virtual Internships

The only platform that guarantees real-world work experience across the globe

Xapien

Fully automated on-demand research on any person or company in the world, in minutes, not days

Zedify

Sustainable delivery solutions

Zeti

Revolutionising transport finance for good

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