diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index d7440306..4c26be4e 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.7.2-rc0 20702000
+2.8.0-rc0 20800000
diff --git a/version.properties b/version.properties
index 665f3e68..32f5ca8d 100644
--- a/version.properties
+++ b/version.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ### Updated by release.sh ###
 project.versioning.major=2
-project.versioning.minor=7
-project.versioning.patch=2
+project.versioning.minor=8
+project.versioning.patch=0
 project.versioning.build=0
 #############################