Inside Techscaler’s UAE Market Engagement Mission

International expansion is rarely about a single meeting or a quick win. For founders operating at growth and scaling stage, it is about confidence, context, and access. Access to the right people. Context for how a market really works. And confidence that time spent exploring a new region will translate into meaningful opportunity.

That was the intent behind Techscaler’s recent UAE Market Engagement Mission. Delivered by CodeBase on behalf of the Scottish Government, the programme brought six founders from six scaling Techscaler member companies to Abu Dhabi and Dubai for a week of government-backed market access and founder-focussed activity.

The cohort reflected the breadth and maturity of Scotland’s tech ecosystem. Companies spanned climate and cleantech, healthtech, fintech, and industrial AI. All of them led by founders or senior decision-makers actively responsible for growth and international expansion:

• RigRun – A digital health platform supporting the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of remote and isolated workforces, while helping organisations meet ESG goals.
• ScotAI – Delivers AI for critical industries, enhancing human performance across sectors including energy, defence, nuclear, and infrastructure.
• Intelligent Plant – Provides secure industrial data analytics through its Industrial App Store, enabling AI adoption while maintaining strict data governance in energy and heavy industry.
• Fennex – Builds AI-driven platforms that improve safety and operational decision-making in high-hazard energy environments.
• Zumo Financial Services – A digital assets as a service platform enabling banks, fintechs, and crypto firms to launch and scale compliant crypto services.
• Simple Online Healthcare – A clinically led digital healthcare service delivering safe, convenient access to prescription treatments directly to patients.

This was not a fact-finding trip in the abstract. Founders arrived with clear intentions: to test assumptions, understand regulatory and commercial realities, and build relationships that would be difficult to secure from Scotland alone.

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Agenda and Intent: Designed for Real Engagement

The week in UAE was deliberately structured to balance formal access with space for founder-driven momentum.

It began with a welcome workshop to align the cohort, surface shared contacts, and set collective goals. From there, the programme moved quickly into practical briefings. Legal and market insight was built into the programme early, both during the week and through relationship-building led by the CodeBase team. Conversations with Mishcon de Reya’s newly established Abu Dhabi office explored free zones, market entry structures, employment expectations, and common pitfalls for international companies. While these discussions were held directly with the CodeBase team, key insights and contacts were shared with the cohort to inform founder decision-making.

In parallel, CodeBase met with Hugh Fraser, an Aberdeen-born lawyer who has operated in the UAE since 2003. His annual Roadmap to Successful Ventures in the Middle East has since been added to the Techscaler programme library, ensuring future cohorts benefit from practical, region-specific guidance grounded in long-term experience.

Alongside the founder programme, the CodeBase team used the week to deepen relationships with Abu Dhabi’s innovation infrastructure. This included exploratory engagement with Masdar City and Hub71 to understand the operating environment, workspace models, and support available to international companies entering the market.

Hub71 also played an active role in the mission, contributing insights during the UAE Ministry of Investment roundtable and outlining how their programmes support globally scaling startups. For founders, this helped translate the idea of a future UAE presence from theory into something tangible and credible.

Evenings were used intentionally. A British Council reception at the British Ambassador’s residence celebrated Scottish alumni based in the UAE, while a curated networking dinner in Dubai, hosted by Moe Hanafy, matched the cohort with twenty sector-relevant contacts. Throughout the week, founders ran their own meetings in parallel, using the programme as a platform rather than a constraint.

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Opportunities Created for Founders

What distinguished this mission was not the volume of meetings, but their quality.

Founders gained access to institutions and decision-makers that would typically take months to reach independently. The Ministry of Investment roundtable was a clear example. Founders entered with modest expectations. They left having fielded substantive questions from government representatives and ecosystem leaders, and with follow-up conversations already underway.

Hub71 offered a different but equally powerful signal. The cohort was welcomed into the space, worked from the fifteenth-floor co-working area. The experience made the idea of a physical presence in Abu Dhabi feel more concrete and achievable.

Legal and market briefings early in the week helped founders frame subsequent conversations more effectively. For Scott Lawrie of Simple Online Healthcare, attending the UAE for the first time, the Mishcon de Reya session answered specific questions he had been researching in advance. Hugh Fraser’s long-running Roadmap to Successful Ventures in the Middle East is now part of the Techscaler programme library, strengthening the infrastructure available to future cohorts.

Value was also created laterally. Conversations between founders surfaced shared challenges and unexpected solutions. A discussion around scaling-stage talent needs led one of the participants to a direct introduction to another leading founder, who has built and leads a twenty-five-person growth team. Peer-to-peer value, created in real time, became one of the week’s defining features.

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Why the UAE? Strategic Context for Scaling Companies

For Techscaler founders, the UAE acts as a new customer base and a gateway market.

The region sits at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with strong demand across health, energy, climate, fintech, and industrial technology. Capital is available, regulators are accessible, and there is a clear appetite for international innovation that aligns with national priorities.

What matters most for scaling Scottish companies is how business is done. The UAE is relationship-first. Trust, credibility, and government backing carry significant weight. Coming to market as part of a trusted delegation, with visible support from the Scottish Government, changes the nature of conversations founders can have.

This was evident throughout the week. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes’ presence at the Ministry of Investment sent a strong signal, both to founders and to local stakeholders. For founders who had previously disengaged from parts of the Scottish startup ecosystem, the mission rebuilt trust by demonstrating what coordinated, founder-focused support can unlock.

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Outcomes and Early Signals

While the mission was not designed to produce instant deals, early signals of impact were clear.

One of the participants entered the week with momentum having secured a meeting with a vice president at a major oil company before the programme formally began. During the week, they were asked to submit a proposal following one meeting and received outreach from a strategic partnerships lead at ADNOC without prior introductions.

Another participant was introduced to the Abu Dhabi police force, which has a declared interest in AI, through the British Council reception. This kind of warm, trust-based introduction does not happen through cold outreach or online research.

Informal moments mattered too. A lunch that overran. A connection sparked by a comment in the welcome workshop. The Dubai networking evening, where Moe Hanafy’s carefully curated room opened conversations across every sector represented in the cohort. These interactions reflected a deeper understanding: progress in the UAE is built through presence and patience.

As Louise Martin reflected:

“As a female founder, taking part in the Techscaler UAE Market Engagement Mission gave me the confidence to step into a new global region as part of a trusted delegation. Being supported by Techscaler allowed me to learn quickly, build meaningful relationships, and understand how to navigate the UAE market in a culturally respectful and effective way. It’s an opportunity I may not have pursued alone, and the experience has genuinely accelerated both my confidence and our international ambitions.”

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What Comes Next

The relationships built during the week are a foundation, not a finish line. Founders are now following up on conversations, exploring return visits, and assessing formal market entry steps.

For Techscaler, the mission helped strengthen the foundations for future international engagement. Relationships were established and progressed, potential future workspaces and support routes were explored, and trusted local connections were activated across government, legal, academic, and innovation communities. These building blocks will make future cohorts more effective, better prepared, and more confident when entering the UAE market.

The mission also sits within a wider Scotland–UAE engagement effort being led at government level. As this corridor continues to develop, Techscaler’s role is to ensure founders are not arriving as part of a connected, credible ecosystem presence that aligns company ambition with national and regional priorities.

For founders considering their next stage of international growth, Techscaler is here to help.

Join Techscaler's next International cohort.

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