Scale doesn't happen by accident. It requires the right support, at the right time, with the resources and networks to match ambition with execution. That's why Techscaler is partnered with Scottish Enterprise to ensure Scotland's tech founders have everything they need to build globally competitive businesses, from Scotland.
Why This Partnership Exists
Building a thriving startup ecosystem requires ensuring the right people have access to growing opportunities, at the right time.
Through its partnership with Scottish Enterprise, Techscaler is combining startup expertise with established global networks, funding, and a large contingent of advisors to create complementary services with common goals.
Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland's national economic development agency, providing specialist business support, funding and investment across a number of future growth industries and key sectors.
Scottish Enterprise has global reach, investment capabilities, and deep innovation expertise, and they bring resources that help the right ambitious tech businesses scale faster. Techscaler brings founder-focused programmes, peer learning, and startup-specific expertise. Together, we're creating a unified approach to supporting Scottish tech founders from early-stage validation through to rapid scaling and expansion.
Both organisations share a fundamental commitment: supporting founders to scale and access new markets. This partnership ensures that tech founders aren't managing accessing different support systems, but instead accessing a joined-up ecosystem where startup expertise and established networks work in tandem.
Partnership Objectives
Our collaboration focuses on supporting founders to build more successful businesses through practical, founder-first support. Together, we're working to ensure more companies are scaling quickly, more companies have the skills and knowledge to grow and survive, and more investment flows into Scottish tech businesses.
At the heart of this partnership is the delivery of SE’s Techscaler Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Small R&D Grant, to support tech founders at critical early stages. Founders need to have demonstrated a fit with the criteria of the grant (usually via one of Techscaler’s Entrepreneurs in Residence). This provides an on-ramp to Scottish Enterprise to deal directly with a dedicated team of specialists, providing one-to-one founder support that helps founders access funds, widen networks, and improve their skills and knowledge. The intended impact is clear: Scottish tech founders should have seamless access to the resources, expertise, and funding they need at every stage of their journey, from validating an idea to scaling rapidly.
What We've Built Together
Scottish Enterprise advisors and Techscaler Entrepreneurs in Residence collaborate through a shared “one team” approach to jointly support businesses. This ensures we're putting the founder first, coordinating expertise rather than creating confusion. Founders receive coherent, complementary guidance that draws on both startup experience and sector-specific knowledge.
This partnership delivers tangible support that directly accelerates founder success. The MVP Grant, created specifically for Techscaler members, is putting more money into Scottish tech startups, enabling faster growth. The grant now specifically supports founders who have gone through the Raise track in the Techscaler Catalyst programme and the Venture Building Incubator (VBI) cohort, targeting those at critical stages where funding can make the biggest difference.
Results So Far
Since the beginning of the partnership, SE has provided 56 MVP Grants, representing a total contribution of £1,254,685 and total project costs of £2,748,503. This funding has enabled Scottish tech founders to validate ideas, build MVPs, and accelerate product development at critical early stages.
Beyond the numbers, this partnership is creating conditions for Scottish tech companies to compete on a global stage, backed by both startup-focused expertise and the institutional strength of Scotland's national economic development agency.
Andrew Conkie, Founder of Red Star and Techscaler member, worked with Christopher Steven, SE Innovation, and highlights the practical impact of the joint support for their med-tech venture.
“We received the Techscaler MVP R&D Grant. The team at Scottish Enterprise supported us in explaining the grant and scoping out a project covering both the technical development work and making sure that this was aligned with broader commercial objectives and would build the long-term sustainability of the company and position us to access broader markets.
The grant helped us accelerate key areas of development which would otherwise have proceeded more slowly. We were able to improve the scalability of our platform, allowing it to be more easily and quickly extended from one disease area into many, whilst ensuring it remained secure and compliant. Commercially, it positions us to bid for a whole wider range of contracts and increases our credibility when engaging with NHS customers.
The teams at Techscaler and Scottish Enterprise have provided excellent mentoring and guidance in helping us scale up our successful innovations into a sustainable business model where we can expand into new markets.”
Steven Clarke, founder of Nuuri and another Techscaler member, has also seen tangible benefits from the joint support.
“At Nuuri, we received an R&D Grant from Scottish Enterprise via a Techscaler referral. Andrew Colley and the team at SE supported us throughout the grant application process, taking time to understand our business, the project and the immediate need for deployment of the grant.
The grant has allowed us to accelerate the development of our customer dashboard and speculative features within it. Specifically, it enabled us to bring forward an engineering hire by three to four months and strengthen our ability to deliver the project.
The structure of the claims process has been smooth and payments have consistently been made within two weeks of submission, which makes a real difference for an early-stage startup.”
A Partnership Across Scotland
Alongside Scottish Enterprise, Techscaler works alongside with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) as part of a coordinated national support network. Together, the agencies align regionally delivered support so founders across Scotland can access consistent, high-quality help to build and scale.
In the Highlands and Islands, Techscaler is partnering with HIE to help founders engage with emerging technologies. Most recently, Techscaler participated in the Rural AI Roadshow, led by HIE in Inverness, contributing to a panel discussion on the practical realities of AI adoption for both existing businesses and startups across the region. This work reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that founders and companies in rural and island communities can access relevant expertise, insight and support as AI capability continues to evolve.
In the South of Scotland, the collaboration is already translating into practical, founder-facing activity. Working alongside SOSE and regional partners, Techscaler has supported a growing programme of founder talks and introductory tech sessions, alongside AI community meetups and hands-on no-code workshops for local businesses, students and aspiring founders. Community-led activity such as Borders Tech Connect is also helping build grassroots momentum through informal meetups and skills sessions. Looking ahead, partners are developing further initiatives - including a regional hackathon - to widen participation and support more diverse founders to build and test new ideas.
What Scottish Enterprise Says
Richard Hamill, Techscaler Programme Development Lead at Scottish Enterprise, said:
“I was involved early in shaping what Techscaler could look like in practice - from the contracting phase through to delivery - with the MVP Grant designed as one element of a wider, joined-up programme of embedded Scottish Enterprise support. We built a dedicated team of SE specialists across Innovation, Intellectual Property, Financial Readiness, International and Research, bringing the depth and breadth of expertise needed for early-stage companies.
Together, we have worked with more than 160 companies, delivering 56 MVP Grants and providing additional support to over 90% of this cohort. I’m genuinely proud of what the team has achieved so far, and we are already seeing the impact of this work through a steady flow of new investment deals and revenue from newly launched products.
Founder-first thinking runs through everything Techscaler does, including its international programmes. Taking founders directly into the markets where they are selling or raising investment is a critical part of supporting their growth, giving them first-hand exposure, relationships and insight that simply can’t be replicated from a distance.
What really matters, though, is the customer journey. The real value of the collaboration between Scottish Enterprise and Techscaler is that it consistently advocates for founders - aligning funding, expertise, and education so support feels cohesive rather than fragmented. If we can reduce duplication and remove the need for founders to tell their story again and again, that’s a meaningful intervention.
The founder as human capital is key. You can spend a lot of time analysing markets, competition, and technology readiness, but those plans inevitably change once founders are out talking to customers. Founders are the constant, and the scarce resource: people prepared to step into the riskiest space, building disruptive products, often in new markets. This capital is Scotland’s most valuable asset.”
Why This Matters for Scotland
This partnership represents a fundamental shift in how Scotland supports its tech ecosystem. Rather than founders navigating fragmented support systems, they can access a unified pathway that combines the agility and founder focus of Techscaler with the scale, networks, and resources of Scottish Enterprise.
When startup expertise and economic development infrastructure work together, Scottish founders don't have to choose between staying local and accessing world-class support. They can build, scale, and compete globally from Scotland, with the backing of an ecosystem that understands both the startup journey and the broader economic landscape.
How to Get Involved
If you're a Scottish tech founder ready to scale your business, here's how to engage:
- Join Techscaler to access programmes, mentorship, and workspace across Scotland
- Explore the MVP Grant if you're a Techscaler Catalyst Raise Track founder or VBI cohort member
- Connect more widely with Scottish Enterprise via the Techscaler EIRs (for sector-specific advice, specialist support, and funding opportunities).
This partnership ensures you have the full range of Scotland's startup support ecosystem working for you – not just in theory, but in practice, with coordinated expertise and a founder-first approach.
Techscaler is delivered by CodeBase on behalf of the Scottish Government, connecting founders across Scotland to the resources, networks, and expertise they need to succeed. Become a Techscaler member for free today.
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