Raising Partners founder Helena Murphy has claimed that Glasgow should have a clear, ten-year ambition to become the Silicon Valley of the UK.

She says Glasgow’s mix of talented entrepreneurs, advisers and funders offer the opportunity to replicate the success of the Californian tech hotbed.

Murphy commented that the Scottish venture capital sector currently behaved like an “old boys’ network” which avoided risk and limited the ambitions of Scottish entrepreneurs by keeping valuations low.

She said: “We’re letting down our entrepreneurs by not making it easier for them to get access to finance – the best thing they can do right now is go to London, and that’s incredibly disappointing.

“We keep talking about the potential of the Scottish tech sector, but we’re not doing enough to help it realise that potential. Our entrepreneurs don’t have the skills or networks to raise finance, because the ecosystem isn’t there to support them and give them what they need.

“If we’re going to have any chance of consistently competing on the world stage, we need to be bolder in our attitude to risk and make decisions which get finance to the people who can turn it into jobs and economic success.”

The Logan Report said Scotland could create a ‘world-class’ technology sector and called for more opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn from their peers and more experienced businesspeople.

Former Skyscanner COO Mark Logan said in his report that Scotland’s tech sector needed support to push it past the tipping point to become a world-class industry.

His report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, made 34 recommendations on how Scotland can transform its tech industry and help promote startups and evolve them into scaleups.

He suggested that a national network of hubs for technology startups should be established across the country, as well as a new fund to invest in the Scottish tech sector.

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Murphy continued: “We’ve heard so many times over the years that Scotland has the potential to be a global entrepreneurial leader, but there’s still a lack of the infrastructure in place to make that happen.

“There’s no reason at all that Glasgow can’t emulate the success of Silicon Valley in attracting world-class businesses and growing our own at the same time. That should be a target for the next 10 years.

“There are some great support organisations already but what the Logan Report articulated so well was the need to have a central strategy leading to a very clear outcome. We don’t lack entrepreneurs, talent or ambition. We lack the structured support, delivered quickly and effectively, to turn those raw ingredients into growth, jobs, and wealth for the economy.”

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