14 tech founders are set to hop the pond to New York City for a programme meant to showcase Scotland’s flourishing tech ecosystem to the US East Coast.

After the success of excursions to Silicon Valley last April and Helsinki in November, Foras, the Scottish Government, and enterprise agency Scottish Development International (SDI) have partnered up to take the group of leading individuals from Scotland’s ecosystem on a funded programme to NYC this April.

Foras Co-Founder Dec McLaughlin added: “We want to put our best foot forward for the Scottish ecosystem, and to make connections for some of our most highly-rated startups and founders, connections that will help take their companies to the next level.”

The New York ecosystem is ranked at number 2 globally, and has the second-highest absolute number of early-stage investments in the world, after Silicon Valley, with a local startup community valued at $147 Billion.

Serial Founder and startup community-builder Rob Gelb, who joins the programme delivery team, said: “New York is one of the most diverse and important tech ecosystems in the world, and experiencing that ecosystem first-hand is important for startups and scale-ups, especially those with an international growth mindset. There are incredible things going on in Scotland, as documented in our recent Founder Surveys, and showcasing the innovation here to global markets and investors is key for these businesses’ successful development.

Successful participants can expect to experience New York’s vibrant culture, as well as a week of facilitated introductions, hands-on workshops,  quality time with established US tech success stories such as Zendesk and Scottish diaspora businesses, visits to world-class accelerators such as Techstars and unique networking opportunities with entrepreneurial representatives from America’s East Coast. The week will culminate with a unique pitching opportunity at an exclusive investor mixer event in partnership with Edrington before the Tartan Day parade.

Mark Logan, the Scottish Government’s Chief Entrepreneur, said: “The internet puts every customer in the world within reach of our companies, but brings every competitor too. To succeed, our startups must be as good as the world’s best start-ups.

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“Our Founders, therefore, need to be outward-looking, learning from world-class techniques and frameworks, and from those who have already built global tech companies. This programme is a great example of how we can help Scotland’s startups to do that, whilst also fostering a greater sense of community and connection amongst our entrepreneurial talent.”

The programme will run between 10-17th of April and was designed by Foras Co-Founders Dec McLaughlin, Nick Murray and Carolina Melendez, well-known for their work in local tech startups and their monthly Central Belt events with Startup Grind Scotland.

Applications are currently open for the trip here.

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