Growth programmes have been announced seeking to help tech firms in the UK to grow and better face upcoming challenges.

Run by Tech Nation, the company has opened applications for seven growth stage and sector programmes: Upscale, Future Fifty, Libra, Applied AI, Fintech, Net Zero and, for Net Zero X.

Designed to help scaling UK companies, the Tech Nation growth programmes will allow them to overcome common growth challenges and scale faster by providing them with specialist coaching, peer-to-peer learning, and extensive networking opportunities.

Tech Nation is actively seeking to support a diverse range of ambitious firms – across region, gender, and ethnicity – to ensure that anyone with an idea and drive in the UK can gain needed support.

In total, Tech Nation has supported 1,010 companies to thrive through its growth programmes, since they began in 2014. The organisation has also supported 37 tech unicorns through its growth programmes.

Tech companies who have been through the growth programmes include Skyscanner (from Edinburgh), Darktrace (from Cambridge) and Monzo (from London), who have received a combined £1.4bn in investment to date.

Commenting on the news, Tech Nation founding chief executive Gerard Grech, said: “Tech Nation’s mission is to enable the most innovative high growth companies from every part of the UK to scale, and to change the world for the better.

“We’re proud to launch these latest growth programmes that help businesses drive capital and create jobs, while tackling some of the greatest social, economic and environmental challenges of our time. Our newest growth programmes, Net Zero X and Libra, are actively helping to decarbonise our nation and level the playing field for underrepresented founders in UK tech.

“We’re privileged to have supported over 4,000 tech businesses to scale and succeed, including 37 (30.3%) of the UK’s tech 122 ‘unicorns’ (companies with valuations of $1bn+), who have collectively raised $22 billion in venture capital investment, and 5 (41.7%) of the UK’s tech 12 ‘decacorns’ (with valuations of $10bn+).”

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Following the launch of Tech Nation’s Net Zero growth programme for early-stage climate tech scaleups in 2020, the organisation is expanding its offering for climate tech companies by launching a new growth programme for later-stage climate tech scaleups: Net Zero X.

With only 25% of total funding raised in climate tech being channelled into the technologies that hold 81% of the total Emissions Reduction Potential (ERP), Net Zero X aims to help accelerate the UK’s goal to drive down global emissions and ‘futureproof’ the climate tech industry.

This will be achieved by reducing this carbon funding gap, countering the climate tech ‘valley of death,’ and supporting the UK’s most promising climate tech companies to scale and influence policy and the investment landscape.

Applications for all of the growth programmes open today (Monday the 16th May) and will close on the 28th June.

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