Even supercharged start-ups can encounter difficulty when trying to make the step to scale up. Tech Nation’s Upscale programme exists to help founders take that leap by not only developing founding and leadership teams, but building a network fit to navigate whatever opportunity (or obstacle) comes next.

And it’s working.

With 35% of unicorns and 40% of UK HQ’d decacorns coming through Tech Nation’s various programmes, and a list of alumni comprising some of the biggest names in tech, it’s an approach that demands attention.

I spoke to Yasmine Messaikeh, Upscale Programme Manager, to find out more.

Upscale was created to support founders at one of the hardest stages of growth: post–Series A.

Upscale sits with Future Fifty as one of the two growth-stage programs at Tech Nation, designed specifically to help founders and their C-suites bridge the gap between early traction and becoming market leaders, while also connecting them into a network of peers, investors, and partners.

Rather than a traditional ‘accelerator’ it’s more of a network for high-potential growth-stage founders to unlock value from peer connections and from the wider Founders Forum community.

At Tech Nation, we back high-potential early stage UK founders, with 35% of unicorns and 40% of decacorns having come through our programmes - and Upscale is no exception with alumni such as Monzo, Improbable, Curve, Cleo, SignalAI, Elvie, Beamery, Bloom & Wild and Multiverse – to name a few.

Series A often validates the product and early traction. Then the shift is from proving the idea to proving the company – scaling people, processes, and performance fast enough to hit the bar for Series B.

That means founders’ mindsets have to change.

They have to think beyond “how do we grow fast” to “how do we grow responsibly, with the right people, structures, and international strategy in place?”.

Scaling demands industrialising everything from product and go-to-market strategy to leadership and data. It means building scalable organisational structures and processes, hiring and empowering senior leaders, and learning to balance rapid growth with mounting profitability pressures.

And let’s not forget the complexities of international expansion and regulatory environments - all within the context of a tougher fundraising landscape.

The shift means building teams with the right talent, putting resilient structures in place, and crafting an international strategy that ensures sustainable, long-term success rather than short-term wins.

We give founders and their teams the benefits from peers and structured support to get it right.

Upscale exists to solve the “Series A to Series B gap”, through peer learning, targeted investor access, and leadership development for both founders and their C-suite.

From a fundraising standpoint, it’s getting harder for founders to raise growth rounds.

Fundraising timelines have increased, especially at growth stages. The Sifted/Carta data show that proceeding from Series A → Series B takes significantly longer than before – up to ~85% longer.¹

Round sizes at growth stage are increasing, but the UK tends to lag in absolute values compared to the US. In addition, founders are expected to stretch their cash further (e.g. smaller Series A, more conservative burn).²

To make things even more difficult, the proportion of late-stage funding proportion is falling also in the UK. Approximately 15-20% of VC capital in recent years has gone to Series C and beyond companies, compared to ~35-40% in the US.³

As a result, the reliance on foreign capital grows - as domestic late-stage funds are fewer or smaller. That also means UK VCs often get diluted out.⁴

Coupled with difficult exit markets and limited IPOs⁵, options for high growth companies can be limited. Hence the need for support.

• Strong product–market fit and proven traction (often Series A raise or £1.5–5m in revenue)
• Ambitious, scalable business models with international potential
• A strong founding team of disruptors that are ready to learn from peers and give back to the community
• Companies that represent a diverse spread of sectors and geographies (a third of the 2025 cohort is based outside London)

Upscale provides:

• A 3-month programme focused on scaling challenges
• Access to speakers and practitioners from successful scale-ups who have “been there before”
• 1:1 investor matchmaking with top VCs
• A peer network of founders at the same stage
• Support not only for the founder, but also for their senior leadership team (CFO, CPO, CTO, etc.)

Rather than a traditional demo day, we curate, high-value 1:1 meetings between founders and leading investors over one day.

Each founder is matched to a set of funds based on sector fit, stage, and interest and has 1:1 back-to-back meetings with them on our investor matchmaking day. This ensures conversations are meaningful, strategic, and often the start of long-term relationships.

Given the lengthening timelines to close later rounds (Series B+) mentioned earlier, having early relationships with investors is key.

Alumni include some of the UK’s most iconic startups: Monzo, Multiverse, Paddle Depop, Bloom & Wild, Cleo. Many have gone on to raise significant follow-on rounds and become unicorns, cementing Upscale’s track record as one of the UK’s top growth programmes.

HSBC Innovation Banking is proud to be a founding partner of Tech Nation.