London entrepreneurs secure £7m investment to support hospitality “super app”

Two London entrepreneurs who pivoted their mobile phone charging business into a successful mobile order and pay app and hand sanitiser network as the pandemic hit, have secured £7m to support the expansion of their hospitality “super app”.

Founded by Hugo Tilmouth and Charlie Baron, parent company Up.co leads Europe’s largest phone charging network ChargedUp; venue operator platform and mobile order and pay app, ServedUp; and hand sanitiser station network, CleanedUp.

On a mission to lead innovation in the hospitality sector, Up.co secured investment from high-profile investors such as Jägermeister, former CEO of Monzo, Tom Blomfield and JamJar Investments - the ex-Innocent Smoothie founders fund, in a round led by a private global investor.

The finance will be invested in fuelling expansion across UK and Europe, new hires and building a new “super app” in a bid to create a one-stop frictionless night out, from start to finish.

Amalgamating all of Up.co’s learnings to date, the new full service platform will unify ServedUp and ChargedUp - integrating hospitality operators and the consumer, under the original ChargedUp brand.

Using data to tailor every experience, allowing pub-goers to feel like a local wherever they go, it will facilitate discovery, booking, ordering and effortless payment all while keeping your phone charged, to get home safely.

Hugo Tilmouth, chief executive, Up.co, said: “By unifying all of the brands under ChargedUp, we believe we can empower consumers and the trade through a full suite of digital solutions.

“Ultimately, we want to make hospitality as frictionless and data driven as e-commerce - think of it like the Amazon GO of hospitality.

“We’d like to thank Alvarium Capital partners for their support as advisors on this transaction.”

Tom Blomfield, former CEO of Monzo commented: “I’m delighted to be a backer of ChargedUp, a company that’s playing an integral part in that recovery by making it incredibly quick & simple for customers to order and pay. I think Hugo and Charlie are going to build a really special company.”

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