Immersive international experience organisation, Foras, announced their first Scottish entrepreneurs cohort for the activities in New York between April 10-17th.

The Scottish entrepreneurs will visit with US-based startups Techstars, Zendesk and Venture Capital firm Insight Partners. Afterwards, they will also have a chance to pitch their businesses to US investors. 

The trip is supported by the Scottish Government and enterprise agency Scottish Development International. Foras’s programme hopes to build connections with peers and investors in the world’s 2nd ranked tech ecosystem according to a the Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking in 2022 which ranked cities based on five factors: Performance, Connectedness, Funding, Market Research, Knowledge, Talent and Experience. New York’s local startup community valued at $147 according to a report. The startups will also participate in New York’s Tartan Day parade, which is a celebration of Scottish culture and heritage in New York. 

The 14 Scottish entrepreneurs are: 

• Leah Hutcheon of Appointedd
• Rowan Armstrong of Bioliberty
• Ishani Malhotra of Carcinotech
• Kate Cameron of Cytochroma
• Michael Cockburn of Desana
• Monica Camino Moreno of Dialexy
• Paul Mooney of NCTech
• Dave Hughes of Novosound
• Chris Downie of Pasabi
• Rotimi Alabi of RAB Microfluidics
• Ian Kerr of Raven Controls
• Jude Cook of ShareIn
• Laura Garcia-Caberol of Touchlab
• Ian Mackenzie of Trojan Energy

This year’s trip follows successful trips to Silicon Valley and Helsinki last year.

“To succeed, our startups must be as good as the world’s best start-ups,” said Mark Logan, chief entrepreneurial advisor to the Scottish Government in an Ecosystem review. “Our founders need to be outward-looking, learning from world-class techniques and frameworks, and from those who have already built global tech companies.”

“We think this kind of additional exposure to investors and people at the top of their game in scaled US technology businesses is incredibly important in raising the overall ambition of Scottish technology businesses – we’re excited to see what the week brings” said Michael Cockburn, part of this year’s cohort and CEO of Desana.

“We’re excited to bring together a richly diverse cohort, not only in the focus and aspiration but also in age, ethnicity, gender and lived experience. Selected from different locations across this amazing country, our delegates are a true illustration of Scotland’s tech ecosystem,” said Carolina Melendez, Foras Co-Founder