Tech City six month plan to Upscale

The third largest technology hub Tech City, launched in Shoreditch in 2010 by David Cameron, to support digital entrepreneurs across Britain has introduced a 6 month pilot Upscale Programme. CEO’s of Zoopla and Grace, and the founder of Skype, are a few experts contributing to the initiative.

After a competitive judging process of applications, 30 companies have joined the Upscale. These are the first of many set to join, they were chosen to reflect a rising diversity and a range of sectors being disrupted by data-led innovations.

One of the companies selected to join was Depop. This London-based start-up, popular with young people in London, is a social shopping app allowing their users to buy and sell products through their social channels by photographing desirable items. The app was chosen as it offers a unique, easy and convenient way of buying and selling with one click.

With over 1.8M users, Depop have raised $8M for their plans for an expansion over the pond to open an office in New York. Which will be headed up by Erik Martin, former general manager of Reddit. Aleksandra Grey who is a Depop user said: “I love using the app and can see it working across the world. It brings selling and buying to a modern audience and makes the selling of second hand items seem cool again. Its easy, fault free and best of all on our phones.”

CEO of nCube, another company part of the Upscale, Philip Steele explains the expansion of tech firms across London.