Tech City UK on search to find country’s top 50 tech start-ups

Future Fifty and Upscale, Tech City UK’s two programmes to help support the UK technology sector’s most promising businesses, are now open for applications.

Future Fifty is a network that supports the country’s top 50 growth-stage tech firms through a combination of development workshops, access to government contacts and services, promotional opportunities and collaboration.

To qualify for Future Fifty, businesses must be UK-based, have an annual revenue exceeding £5m and be growing at 30% year-on-year.

As well as five IPOs totaling £1bn, the programme’s 77 alumni have collectively raised $2.5bn and created 23,000 jobs – a rate estimated to be six times the national average. Notable businesses include Startups 100 companies Transferwise, Deliveroo and Crowdcube.

The six-month Upscale programme is focused on early-stage start-ups, helping 30 promising businesses begin to scale by providing expert mentoring, networking and promotional opportunities. Young Gun-founded Kano and Seedrs, and Startups 100 company Property Partner have all previously taken part in the programme.

Applicants must be UK-headquartered, have achieved 30% month-on-month growth for the last six and have completed a Series A or equivalent. Bootstrapped businesses are also eligible if they have £500,000 in revenues.

New mentors for Upscale include Lastminute.com founders Baroness Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman MBE, alongside Mind Candy founder Michael Acton Smith OBE, as well as Future Fifty alumni JustEat CEO David Buttress and FanDuel co-founder Lesley Eccles.

Tech City UK does not take an equity stake in any companies on its programmes.

Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech City UK, commented: “Future Fifty and Upscale are designed to support the different needs of high growth businesses and scale-ups, surrounding each team with their peers and industry experts who really understand the challenges they face as they expand.

“We are really delighted that our Future Fifty companies are now becoming scale coaches as well as role models for aspiring entrepreneurs, playing their part to create a sustainable ecosystem.”

You can find out more and apply for Future Fifty here, and apply for Upscale UK here. Applications close on December 7.