The CEOs of the two Glasgow-based organisations cited a trend of investors preferring to invest in scale-ups rather than startups as the reason for the collaboration.

Paul Wilson, STAC’s CEO, said: “From the outset, STAC has been strongly supported by the Scottish investment community, but we have to recognise that the successful evolution of Scotland’s angel syndicates, who are now investing more frequently in scale-up companies than seeding startups, means there is a void in access to capital for early stage companies. So, we are working to plug the gap.

“The upside of Scotland’s multi-decades of small business generation is the creation of a strong talent pool of experienced entrepreneurs who have exited their ventures and want to support the next generation of founders, and the Murphy tie-up gives us access to a large community of these entrepreneurs.”

Adrian Murphy, CEO, Murphy Wealth, added: “Paul and the STAC team have made incredible progress in the eighteen months since the accelerator was launched. In common with our own firm, we support entrepreneurs, albeit at a different stage of the entrepreneurial journey, and we share a strong belief in how transformational entrepreneurs and fast-growth tech companies can be to the wider economy.

“We also share STAC’s ambition to create world-beating companies from a base in Scotland, and are pleased to be strengthening our relationship with STAC to help make this happen.”

To help bring in investment, STAC and Murphy Wealth will launch ‘STAC Invest’; an online platform showcasing Scotland’s IoT and smart devices startups to both local and international investors.

Additionally, STAC and Murphy Wealth plan to “ensure experienced talent is in place to build an international IoT tech cluster in Scotland.”

This comes off the back of the launch of ‘STAC Jobs’ in January; an IoT recruitment platform created in partnership with Jordan Talent Solutions, aimed at improving recruitment and retention in Scotland’s IoT industry.

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Paul Wilson commented: “Our STAC-supported companies have international perspective from day one, it’s built into their DNA, and to plan for international growth you need access to capital and talent. The partnerships with Murphy and Jordan underpin this approach.

“The IoT and smart device market in Scotland is heating up, we’ve seen merger and acquisition activity with companies like Pelion, Sonos, and Current Health, and Waire, IOpt, Krucial, Kingdom Technologies, and Beringar are among the next wave of sector players building investment and market momentum.

“With STAC’s Jobs, Space, and Investment, we have the acceleration support in place to support internationally competitive businesses.”

STAC currently supports 23 companies with 70 employees from its Glasgow Skypark base. The accelerator will be accepting applications for its third cohort of companies on 1st March.