Govia Thameslink Railway partners with swiftscale to collaborate on supply chain innovation

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has joined enterprise technology network, swiftscale, for access to its global scaleup ecosystem – a network of organisations offering innovative technology services to meet business challenges and opportunities.

As part of swiftscale’s corporate partner network, GTR is joining other leading organisations including NatWest Group, Coca-Cola European Partners, the Ministry of Defence and Macquarie Group, advancing themselves through scaleup collaboration.

The partnership with swiftscale is focused on increased innovation in GTR’s procurement activities, as well as bolstering collaboration with organisations across the rail sector following a period of significant impact due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The partnership comes at an optimal time for GTR as the pandemic continues to impact demand for rail services and will enable the continued development of both technologies and data across the operator’s extensive supply chain, helping to advance the wider rail sector and improve customer experience.

Alexander Sainty, Co-Founder and CEO of swiftscale, said, “Rightly or wrongly, rail has previously had a reputation for being largely stuck in their ways. That’s why I’m particularly pleased to see GTR challenging the status quo. By proactively shaking up their supplier base and seeking out innovative startup solutions and services, GTR is a catalyst for positive change across their industry.”

GTR will benefit from access to swiftscale’s vast network of fast growth startups from the UK and globally. By assessing GTR’s strategic needs, technology capabilities and current challenges, swiftscale will deliver a targeted and refined selection of companies in some of the most interesting areas of enterprise technology advancement, including for cybersecurity, data analytics, procurement and supply chain management. By focusing on emerging technology, the firms can help to ensure that rail travel remains at the core of the future of modern mobility.

David Gornall, Commercial Director at GTR, said, “We’re pleased to kick off this exciting new collaboration with swiftscale to become the corporate partner for rail. The opportunity to stimulate positive change in our extensive supply chain will be an essential driver for efficiencies in the future. Their global network of companies will act as a stimulant for positive change across our business. A continual push for innovation in procurement improves the operations of our business and as a result delivers a better experience for our customers."

Notes to Editors 

• Govia Thameslink Railway is the UK’s largest train operating company, delivering more than 1 million passenger journeys daily pre-Covid-19. The operator runs four brands across London and the south east: Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express. Running more than 3,600 trains daily creates an extensive operational challenge that is supported by an ecosystem of key partners and an extensive supply chain.
• GTR has a track record of supporting start-ups and encouraging innovation throughout the supply chain. GTR was the key rail partner for the Billion Journey Project - a multimodal innovation accelerator in partnership with Go-Ahead Group – and has been supportive of several companies through First of a Kind Innovate UK programmes 
• swiftscale’s unique model for startup <> corporate collaboration enables senior executives to easily plug into the startup ecosystem and stay up to date with relevant, enterprise-ready innovation. It maintains a unique database of over 650 globally sourced, heavily vetted scaleups (fast-growth startups) and specialises in constructive innovation; emerging technologies that can protect a large enterprise, improve its processes and productivity or enhance its products or services.
• The company’s network of business leaders includes CEOs and other c-suite from some of the world’s largest companies, including over 40% of the FTSE100. Examples of scaleups it has supported include Tessian, a tool to prevent staff from being caught out by phishing emails and identified as a ‘future unicorn’, C2FO, a company that has raised almost $400million and the creator of the first market for working capital, and Peak AI, awarded ‘Rising Star Partner of the Year 2019’ by AWS.