Scaleup companies matter. They are central to the future prosperity of the UK, creating new jobs and increasing the wealth of the nation. We need more of them.
Many businesses have the ambition to scale. But it is not easy for a high-potential business to become a high-performing world-beater. To make that ambition a reality requires a clear strategy, the capability to hire and retain skilled staff, to develop management and leadership capacity, to penetrate new markets and to secure access to finance, and to address all the infrastructure needs of the business.
That is why the Innovate UK and EEN Scaleup Programme has been launched. Created and being delivered by EEN, and inspired and funded by Innovate UK, the Scaleup Programme is an ambitious programme for ambitious people.
Admission onto Scaleup Programme
Admission onto the Scaleup Programme has been a rigorous and highly selective process. We drew up an initial long list of approximately 2,800 companies, comprising the pool of companies who have received intensive support through Innovate 2 Succeed, Horizon 2020 or international collaboration support. From this, we invited each of EEN’s partners to nominate their three top contenders.
We were looking for innovative, ambitious, high-growth oriented companies who were already on their scaling journey, whose innovations and/or business models can disrupt an existing market, and who are establishing or already implementing their international markets strategy.
They had to have a verified business plan and a commitment to implement it. They had to have the potential to achieve Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) of at least 60-100% or more - so today's £10m business is aiming to grow its revenues to north of £100m.
In other words, they had to be pretty special businesses!
The Scaleup Programme is now up and running. We are supporting 30 companies on their journey towards rapid, exponential growth. We believe that these companies have the potential to make the leap to become large. The time of analysis is over and we are now firmly in support model.
Team of scaleup directors
At the centre of the service is a team of eight high-calibre scaleup directors who operate together as a board and provide each of the companies on the programme with a matrix of skills and connectivity. A single director provides each company with one point of contact but is drawing upon the collective resources of the board.
The scaleup directors will help the companies to structure themselves for global growth and work with them to understand the particular set of needs that each company faces on their scaling journey.
It is an exciting change in how to deliver support for high-growth companies. It puts the companies at the centre and builds the support around them in a more targeted and tailored way.
Participating scaleup companies
Ansible Motion
Founded in 2009, Ansible Motion designs, manufactures, deploys and supports Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulators featuring advanced computational and mechanical performance, and industry-unique immersion solutions that create compelling virtual worlds for product development engineers and expert drivers.
Aurelius Environmental
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was committed to giving as much as possible back to the people, to make a real difference and to serve them well. Aurelius Environmental embodies these principles and aspires to revolutionise the waste management and recycling industry.
Bond Digital Health
Bond Digital Health is an in-revenue, profitable and innovative SME with products and projects that will impact worldwide: chronic disease, agri-food and challenging issues of public health. Its digital technology, collaborations with leading scientists, international business partnerships and its talented team will ensure it makes a difference.
C4 Carbides
C4 Carbides is a Cambridge-based technology company supplying linear edge super-abrasive tooling to the world's major tooling brands. At the forefront of ceramic to steel bonding technology for industrial cutting blades, C4 has recently developed a new process based on 3D manufacturing methods which is destined to dominate the tooling industry.
Combat Medical
Combat Medical has patented, developed and launched two innovative hyperthermic (heated) drug delivery systems, significantly improving outcomes for five types of cancer including three of the most prevalent (bladder, bowel and stomach). Combat has eight clinical trials ongoing, has completed over 20,000 treatments and is sold in over 35 countries.
Deeside Cereals
Deeside Cereals is a leading manufacturer of innovative and delicious breakfast cereals and cereal bars for many leading food retailers. Its business is driven by the capability and commitment of its people and the constant focus of delivering satisfaction to customers and consumers.
Eduboard
Eduboard is an innovative data science company developing smart apps for the education sector. It has recently developed askEDDi which empowers schools and colleges to improve performance, supports teachers with smart analysis and intervention. It also enables students to take ownership of their learning journey, dubbed the "Fitbit" app for education.
Enigma Digital
Enigma Digital is a desktop software and web app developer. They have had more than two million visitors to their website, two million app downloads and one million desktop software downloads. With revenues from every country in the world, Enigma is a truly global company.
Eviid
Developers of a patented evidential technology for digital media that makes videos, images and other digital files verifiable at source. The team has deployed the technology as part of evidential video systems in enterprise environments. Future applications include drone and dash cam footage, and image authentication on social media platforms.
Fast2Fibre
Fast2Fibre is a disruptive technology solution utilising unique patented processes for the extraction of redundant telecoms and power cable, allowing the insertion of fibre optic without the need for excavation or other disruptive techniques. The commercial proposition is to significantly reduce the cost of fibre optic deployment, particularly in difficult access areas, thereby increasing the pace of fibre optic adoption.
FDM Digital
FDM Digital Solutions are leaders in additive manufacturing (3D printing) and have established themselves as the go-to specialists in the UK. Driven by leading F1 applications, they offer consultation into all industry sectors showcasing the real world of how to apply this Industry 4.0 disruptive technology.
Flexion Mobile
Flexion functions as a distribution platform of Android games. Its unique technology has solved a distribution problem for games developers and, as a result, these can now reach new channels without making changes to their games' code. Flexion's service makes it profitable for developers to distribute games to multiple stores.
FutureNova
FutureNova is a medical design company based in Chelmsford and Houston, designing medical grade accessories which work with Apple technology. The company manufactures the FlipPad in the UK and exports to 16 countries. It is funded by business angels, the Low Carbon Innovation Fund and Kent County Council.
IBEX
IBEX Innovations is a venture capital-backed start-up commercialising a novel X-ray detector technology for medical and industrial imaging applications. The IBEX Trueview product radically improves diagnostic images at lower patient dose and provides important new clinical outputs including bone density measurements for early diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Kelda Technology
Kelda Technology has been voted one of the top 30 cleantech companies in the world. They adapt high-end automotive and aerospace technology to produce a revolutionary "water-in-air" shower that halves water use without any loss in performance. Kelda is currently rolling out this technology worldwide to commercial users, with domestic markets to follow.
Kendal Nutricare
Kendal Nutricare, "the home of family nutrition," is the only British manufacturer of infant formulas in the UK. The company makes Kendamil infant formulas, Kendamil infant cereals and Kendalife adult meal replacements; it sells nationally in the UK and exports globally under BRC Grade A and international ISO14001 accreditations.
Locumtap
LocumTap is on a mission to digitally transform temporary staffing in healthcare. It offers a cloud-based portal to help employers manage their locum vacancies efficiently, automate administrative tasks and improve visibility with advanced analytics. The mobile app enables clinicians to browse and book shifts on demand.
Mo-Sys
Mo-Sys is a small team that designs and builds simple yet versatile camera technology products for the film and broadcast industry. The product range covers the areas of remote heads and motion control, broadcast robotics, mechanical and optical camera tracking for AR and VR, and on-set visualisation.
NVP Energy
NVP Energy is a cleantech company that has developed an innovative waste water treatment process, treating industrial effluent at ambient temperatures while producing high-quality biogas as a by-product, all contained within a compact, modular and remote monitored package. The process is designed for applications in municipal treatment and the food and beverage industries, including brewing, malting, distilling, beverage, dairy and meat processing sites.
PCE Automation
PCE is a market-leading automation specialist, with the complete in-house capacity to design, manage, manufacture and program cutting-edge turnkey automated solutions. Firmly established within the FMCG, industrial, medical and ocular sectors, PCE delivers exceptional solutions which offer efficiency, longevity and a swift ROI.
Personalyze
Personalyze is an award-winning and unique big data people analytics company which has created ground-breaking profiling technology that enables them to understand people to an unprecedented level of detail. All business is about understanding people and their technology allows them to understand people better than anyone else.
Plas Farm
Plas Farm is a leading frozen dessert manufacturer with more than 20 years' experience in innovative food manufacturing. From high protein ice cream to vegan cheese, Plas Farm has a diverse product portfolio. With ambitious plans, the company is looking to scale up significantly over the coming years.
Properr Software
Properr develop digital products that simplify the home buying process. Their flagship product, TrackMyMove, brings everyone involved in a property transaction into an online deal room, providing unprecedented transparency, automating archaic processes and guaranteeing security.
Suprex
Suprex specialises in research and processing using super-critical CO2 across four main areas: extraction and fractionation of natural materials; enzyme reactions; ultra-clean materials, and impregnation. The replacement of oil-based environmentally damaging solvents such as hexane is a particularly hot topic, giving the company exciting opportunities for expansion.
TasteTech
Founded in 1992, TasteTech are specialist designers and manufacturers of controlled release food flavourings and functional ingredients, providing creative solutions for global bakery, confectionery, chewing gum and nutrition markets. The benefits include increased shelf life, improved taste and texture, protection of key ingredients from moisture and contamination, and masking bitter notes.
TrakCel
TrakCel delivers a suite of integrated technologies to effectively and easily orchestrate the cell therapy supply for autologous and allogeneic therapies - ensuring safe, scalable and affordable products. Developed in collaboration with industry leaders, TrakCel delivers the visibility and control required to safely manage cell, gene and immunotherapies from clinical trials through to commercial scale on a global basis.
TrakRap
TrakRap designs and produces sustainable packaging solutions that have a lower impact on the environment for manafacturers supplying supermarkets and retailers with FMCG products. The unique, Industry 4.0-ready TrakRap system is a secondary packaging system that delivers lighter weight, lower cost and more energy efficient retail-ready packaging.
Valuechain
Valuechain's software solutions connect smart factories to drive productivity and create intelligent collaborative supply chain ecosystems. Awarded a €3.2m innovation grant from the European Commission, Valuechain has scaled operations in UK, China and India working with more than 550 clients including Airbus, Bentley Motors, Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.
It is an exciting change in how to deliver support for high-growth companies.
Maxine Adam
