Techscaler released its second annual report, presented as a marked celebration of its bid to support tech startups and scale-ups in the Scottish landscape. 

Deputy first minister Kate Forbes said she was “proud” to present their findings, which claimed that Techscaler now supports nearly 1,000 startups, close to double the number from last year. Further, companies which participated in the Techscaler programme raised £118 million in two years, £105m in equity based investments, and £12.86m in grant funding, according to the report. 

This is a more than double the amount raised in Techscaler’s first year, with £54.1m raised by the end of 2024, from 502 participating companies.

Forbes called this a “pretty big return” on investment considering the initial £42m the Scottish government put behind the initiative back in 2022. 

The programme also grew in numbers, more than doubling its membership to 1,411 from the 610 members it counted at the end of 2023. 

In this interview with DIGIT, we speak to deputy first minister Kate Forbes taking a closer look at the Techscaler programme two years on. 

By the Numbers 

The majority of Techscaler companies are still at the early stages of their startup journey, with 14% still in the ideation phase. While this is positive in terms of membership, it brings into question how many of these companies will get the opportunity to progress from this stage into funded startups and then later, the scale-ups Scotland has stoked its ambitions on. 

According to the Scottish National Investment Bank, scaleups only accounted for 0.52% of the Scottish SMEs in 2021, but generated one third of the total SME turnover. Scaleups are more productive than their peers, on average, they generate 61% more turnover per employee than other Scottish enterprises.

Figures from ScaleUp Britain show that of the 2,140 scaleups in Scotland, each had an average turnover of £19.2m in 2024, with the majority growing over 30% year on year in either employment or turnover, and a quarter growing by more than 50%. 

Regionally, Techscaler has seen notable growth as it expanded to have 14 hubs, with new pop up innovation hubs operated by some of its partners, reaching companies outside of the central belt. 

While major cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow continue to attract upward investment, startups outside of the central belt do not feel deterred, and in fact invigorated due to Scotland’s close knit network and community, according to Forbes. 

“Scotland is the perfect size,” the deputy first minister  told DIGIT, “with diverse geographies, diverse communities, while being small enough to be accessible. 

“It’s a huge benefit and interestingly, some of the businesses who have started companies in the Highlands have said they feel it’s no disadvantage even though they may not be in the central belt,” she added, noting the work Techscaler has done in expanding their reach into the more remote areas of Scotland. 

Still, part of Techscaler’s highlighted changes in the past year has been its emphasis on international expansion. 

Turning outwards has been important not just for growing international trade and investment connections, but for broadening entrepreneurial horizons as well. 

“Scotland has a lower tolerance for failure compared with the most successfully entrepreneurial countries, particularly the United States,” Forbes explained. “To just take an idea, think about it, run with it, and be willing to fail, feels usual in Scotland.

“That’s what [founders] are overcoming through Techscaler.” 

The Techscaler report, and Forbes herself, detailed some of the lessons learned from the two years the Scottish Government and its partner, CodeBase, spent working with founders in Scotland. 

While funding and investment is often the common scourge of startup founders looking to get their foot in the door, Techscaler is looking to expand their role in international partnerships, improving education, and mentorship. 

From talking to different founders, Forbes found that “a lot of the benefit they have derived is from the softer support. 

“Perhaps the government is too quick to think that grants and financial support are what founders, startups, entrepreneurs need, but actually its mentoring, its networking, its education. It’s learning about what others have done and not done that has made the biggest impact,” Forbes explained to DIGIT. 

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On the Ground Impact 

While the impact of funding and investment cannot and was not understated in the report, the importance of this ‘softer’ side of Techscaler was expounded in some of the future hopes for the programme. 

Expanding on their international trips, which included Silicon Valley and Singapore last year, Techscaler is soon to visit Japan, which is set to provide companies with access and connections to a global market. 

Their education platforms are set to be reinvigorated with AI to offer more direct and consistent support to founders looking to bolster their business skills. 

Since the programme began, 543 members have benefited from mentorship, but Forbes is looking to improve this number as well as start mentorship and educational programmes even earlier. 

Teaching students in Scottish schools and universities about Techscaler, to get them excited about and interested in the tech sector, as well as founding a business, is where Forbes see CodeBase and the government working more closely to introduce the entrepreneurial spirit into the Scottish ecosystem at its roots. 

Further expanding on this, Forbes told DIGIT about her hopes to get more young female entrepreneurs to visit schools to provide needed role models and mentors to young girls who may not realise the tech industry or entrepreneurship is a viable option. 

“A lot of the issues with education and entrepreneurship is that it’s cultural, which is harder to change quickly, but a lot can be done by getting founders into our schools, and there’s been more of that happening,” she told DIGIT. 

Increasing the amount of mentors in schools can inspire more people in Scotland from diverse backgrounds to pursue tech and entrepreneurship, bolstering the number of women-led businesses in the nation. 

The report states that 37% of Techscaler founders identify as female, a marked improvement upon the national average of 20%. 

“Our aim should be to drive this further and higher, to at least 50%,” Forbes said when she presented the report. “We can and will do better, and that’s a responsibility for all of us.”

Looking to the future, Forbes reflected on if the Scottish government would appoint a new chief entrepreneur after Mark Logan, who, before departing from the role last year, had a strong influence on Techscaler’s initial development and deployment.

Currently, the minister is not thinking of replacing Logan: “He was the role, as it were. That’s not to say we completely discount future opportunities.”

While the Techscaler report was overwhelmingly positive – with an argument to be made that its plaudits exist somewhat in vacuum – the economic realities facing Scottish businesses and the overall Scottish economy cannot be forgotten. 

“There’s a lot of challenges facing our economy in the form of high inflation, difficulties in recruiting because of a tight labour market, higher cost in fuel,” Forbes said. 

“But it’s never been more exciting to be in Scotland right now, and when I engage with industry, they will say that the opportunity that is currently unfolding, it’s not in the distant future. The opportunity that is currently unfolding exceeds any opportunity that Scotland has ever faced.”

Forbes pushed back against when asked about Scottish Labour leader Anas Sawar’s recently published technology report, which detailed issues around digital exclusion and remote communities still left behind in the 4G rollout. 

“We don’t need a technology report,” Forbes said to the press, “Look at what’s happening right now.” 

Right now, based on an early glance at the Techscaler report, Scotland’s tech entrepreneurial environment continues to appear promising.