Five North West companies are among the 35 mid-stage scaling tech companies that have been accepted into Upscale 8.0.
The six-month, government-backed Upscale programme supports the UK’s fastest-growing mid-stage, Series A tech companies to overcome common growth challenges and scale faster. This stage is a critical time in every scaleup’s journey, as around 60 per cent of companies that raise Pre-Series A funding fail to make it to Series A or beyond.
The 35 companies have an average growth rate of 250 per cent, reflecting the strength of the mid-sized market overall. Data from Tech Nation and Dealroom reveals that mid-stage scaling tech companies (at Series A) have raised $5.1bn nationally this year to August. The top-three fastest scaling sectors for mid-stage companies in 2022 are fintech (the fastest scaling sector, which has received $1.4 billion in VC investment this year), healthtech (with $769mn) and then energy tech (with $542mn).
The new companies joining Upscale collectively employ over 1,400 people, and over half (18) of the companies in Upscale 8.0 hail from outside of London. The North West cohort consists of freelance art talent platform CGHero, digital home mover Helpthemove, cloud-based gym manager Membr and business gifting assistant WellBox all from Manchester, and Chorley SaaS platform Lunio.
Carrie Babcock, investment manager at Beringea and Upscale 8.0 judge, said: “Tech Nation’s Upscale programme is a great opportunity for startups looking to grow as it connects them to valuable investors and resources, and it lends them an immense amount of visibility – we certainly pay a lot of attention to this list at Beringea. This year’s cohort includes a diverse range of innovative companies and impressive founders, and as with every year, I look forward to finding out more about them.”
Companies accepted into Upscale will receive over 60 hours of support at world-class coaching sessions delivered by over 20 expert scale coaches, attend networking events with key stakeholders, peers, corporates and investors, and have access to a range of online resources, designed to tackle fundamental scaling challenges around culture, talent, international expansion and financing.
