L- R Alex Macdougall of Unbagged, Alex Gordon-Furse of Playmaker, Olga Maksimova of Lovat Compliance at the Techscaler San Francisco Hub.
23 February 2024 - The Scottish Government has launched its first Techscaler hub in Silicon Valley to help promising startups from Scotland build contacts with international investors and customers.
The pilot programme is providing office space for 12 startups in San Francisco, one of the world’s leading startup communities, close to the city’s venture capital finance district. The new businesses are developing entrepreneurial ideas in areas from health technology to space tech.
Technology incubator CodeBase is running the programme and aims to create a permanent hub enabling business owners to remain in Scotland in the longer term while maintaining easy access to the San Francisco tech community.
Ahead of a speech in Edinburgh today on priorities for the Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy portfolio, Wellbeing Economy Secretary Mairi McAllan said: “Our £42 million Techscaler network is showcasing some of Scotland’s most promising startups on the global stage. The pilot Techscaler San Francisco hub is helping their businesses make connections in the world’s leading startup community.”
“The benefits are clear, our startups are expanding their networks and engaging with communities of like-minded individuals of owners, startups and investors. This will help increase their visibility and grow their businesses in the global marketplace.”
“Activities like this demonstrate Scotland’s ambition to become one of Europe’s leading startup communities, we are setting an example internationally and helping drive a fair and growing economy.”
Mindspace Co-Founder and CEO Dan Zakai said: "Mindspace works with governments from several countries to create landing spaces for startups. It's amazing that the Scottish Government has joined that list. We have seen first hand the value of exposing startups to the San Francisco tech ecosystem. We hope to do more in future and to make the Techscaler hub a permanent fixture."
Daniel Grant, founder of notation.dev, one of the first companies to use the hub, said: “Joining the San Francisco hub has energised me, and enabled me to connect with people from around the world working at the forefront of tech.”
The power of San Francisco is the velocity at which information moves through the city. It is a hyper-charged network that accelerates innovation, and connects founders with collaborators, prospects and investors faster than anywhere else in the world.”
Background for editors
The hub is located near the South Park District which is home to a large community of venture capital firms. Launched in November 2022, Techscaler was established in line with the key recommendations of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER), authored by Mark Logan, Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor to the Scottish Government. Techscaler is a nationwide tech startup support programme to build the Scottish tech ecosystem. Via community hubs across Scotland, the programme delivers startup education, mentorship, workspaces and a network of partnerships. Since it was launched in 2022, Techscaler has recruited 643 startup founder members across 517 startup companies.
Techscaler | Building Startups in Scotland
Scottish technology ecosystem: review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
