The London-based startup theUp.co which is on a mission to lead innovation and hospitality space has just scored €8.3 million in investment from reputable investors such as Jägermeister, former CEO of Monzo, Tom Blomfield, and JamJar Investments.
theUp.co, founded in 2017 by two young serial entrepreneurs ‘Charlie Baron’ and ‘Hugo Tilmouth’. Yet, a firm that has been working to develop new solutions geared towards helping consumers order, make payments, and socialize. In addition to that, the subject company equally developed other companies which fall under theUp.co brand: ChargedUp, ServedUp, and CleanedUp respectively.
It was noted that ChargedUp, a sub-company under the parent company which was launched in 2017 – provided a network of 3000 charging points across 50 European cities while letting people rent a mobile charging pack from a destination and have it returned to another.
Being inspired by the successful bike-sharing model as observed, the aforementioned company – ChargedUp witnessed rapid growth. Equally known to be teaming with global leaders in the beverage alcohol industry, the brand also secured lucrative deals with a host of companies, notably WeWork, Stonegate, and DoubleTree by Hilton while inking a five-year deal to provide a network of stations in Europe’s two largest shopping centers, Westfield London and Westfield Stratford.
Meanwhile, the CleanedUp brand evolved when the pandemic hit the business duo that eventually gave rise to a successful mobile order and pay app coupled with a hand sanitizer network, thus, CleanedUp.
In the same vein, the entrepreneurs in 2020 also partnered with one of the world’s largest producers of beers and spirits, while offering sanitizer kits free of charge to pubs and restaurants through the UK based on trade recovery initiative ‘Raising the Bar’, with 25,000 units in nine days in a bid to help pubs reopen safely.
Further on this, in 2021, as the world began to open up again and return to favorite pubs, the entrepreneurs unveiled ServedUp, viewed as an all-in-one EPOS solution that combines a rapid mobile order and pay solution with next-generation POS and card payment devices, structured to streamline venues to better serve their customers.
“Our success began as a way to help our customers. We thought, how can we do something to help our venues reopen and make sure they’re compliant? Everything we have done to date has been based on this sentiment…Based on those initial principles, we’ve grown the business and our network of customers 10x since the start of the pandemic, enabling us to reignite and move at speed with our technology”, ‘Hugo Tilmouth’ said.
As the duo aim to be formidable in this sector with the aid of cutting-edge technology coupled with a relationship with powerhouse beverage brands as they aim to keep the pace ahead of others, the subject startup theUp.co made clear it will use the fresh capital to expand across the UK and Europe, boost hiring and build a new ‘super app’ to launch in 2022 that will create a one-stop frictionless night out from start to finish.
The firm is also poised to unify ServedUp and ChargedUp, which meant integrating hospitality operators and consumers under the ChargedUp brand. However, the aim is to allow pub-goers to feel local at every instance, by facilitating discovery, booking, ordering, and effortless payment while ensuring your phone is fully charged up.
Hugo added: “With the new all-encompassing app, you’ll be able to discover the best spots; book them; order and pay; earn rewards from some of the world’s biggest beverage brands, all while keeping your phone fully charged while you do it. Making it as frictionless as possible for you to have an amazing day or night out”.
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