Welsh digital start-up set to join third Upscale programme
DIGITAL start-up Veeqo is joining a national programme designed to help early-stage tech companies scale up.
It’s one of 37 companies to join the third Upscale programme, run by Tech City UK, the publicly-funded digital sector support body.
Based in Swansea, Veeqo has developed a single platfom for online retailers to quickly and efficiently ship orders via multiple channels, including the likes of Amazon and eBay. Its platform is integrated with every major shipping service in the world.
Founded in 2013 by e-commerce veteran Matt Warren, it has been backed by investors including New Look founder Tom Singh.
It operates on a fee model with its clients, which have e-commerce sales of at least £1m a year. Clients include folding-bike manufacturer Brompton Bikes.
Last autumn Veeqo announced it is recruiting nearly 170 additional staff over three years to bring its total headcount to 220. It followed the company securing £1.2m in crowdfunding last December, after £2.5m raised on the Seedrs platform and from New Look founder Tom Singh.
Besides Swansea, Veeqo also has offices in London, Berlin, Canada and Kyrgyzstan.
Tech City UK said the Upscale programme is “bigger and better than ever before” this year with a significant shift in the size and calibre of the companies applying.
For the first time ever, 34 of the 37 companies on the programme have already raised their Series A funding, reaching an average of £5.9m funding between them.
Series A funding is a company’s first substantial funding round after its seed funding which launches the company, and is usually used to scale up the business.
The fact that all the companies on the programme have completed it means they are in a stronger position to take advantage of the scaling advice that will be offered to them during the six-month programme, from coaches who include some of the UK’s best known and most successful tech entrepreneurs and investors.
Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman, successful investor and Lovefilm founder Saul Klein, One Fine Stay co-founder Greg Marsh and Lesley Eccles, founder of FanDuel.com are among the coaches who will take the companies through their paces, sharing with them their knowledge and expertise in building successful tech businesses with global potential.
Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech City UK, said: “Upscale is an important programme because it is a crucial showcase for some of the UK’s most promising start-ups. This country is fortunate to have an amazing number of companies embarking on this journey but we still need to make sure that we continue supporting those ambitious entrepreneurs who make the bold decision to start or grow a business here in the UK.
“Now more than ever we have to keep backing tech entrepreneurs because it is this pipeline of emerging businesses that is essential to keeping the UK at the forefront of a global industry that creates high-value, highpaying jobs right across the country.”
Companies joining the programme have on average 33 employees and revenues of more than £1.7m a year. The funding raised by the companies ranges from £17m to £470,000.
Last autumn the Government announced an extra £21m funding for Tech City UK over four years. It also announced that the organisation would be rebranded Tech Nation from April to reflect a widening focus on supporting tech clusters outside London.
It has already identified Cardiff as the centre of a digital cluster in south Wales.