Scotland's tech sector is no longer just about potential, it's about momentum. We've recently launched our Ones to Watch 2025 report, showcasing the high-growth startups and scaleups that are defining Scotland's next chapter of innovation.
The numbers tell part of the story: Scotland now accounts for around 12% of all UK equity investment by number of deals, up from 9% just two years ago. But behind those figures are founders building genuinely transformative businesses across healthtech, AI, maritime tech, space, and beyond.
The Flywheel Effect
Success breeds success. Scotland's first two unicorns—Skyscanner and FanDuel—created a generation of operators who are now feeding their capital, expertise, and networks back into the ecosystem. As our Entrepreneur in Residence Andrew McGinley puts it: "There's a ripple effect. There's a real richness of talent now of people that have had scaling journeys."
We see this first-hand through Techscaler. The companies we worked with in our first Ones to Watch edition are now raising major rounds and scaling internationally. AI legaltech Wordsmith AI raised a $25m Series A led by Index Ventures. GenAI optimisation startup Malted AI secured a £6m seed round led by Hoxton Ventures. Bootstrapped digital health platform Simple Online Healthcare tripled its revenue to £66m and expanded globally.
Scotland's Structural Advantages
What's driving this growth? Scotland has built genuine competitive advantages in specific verticals:
Healthtech and Medtech: From Current Health's £300m acquisition by Best Buy to the rising generation of medtech innovators, Scotland's proud history of medical innovation continues. The proximity between startups, consultants, patients, and research institutions—particularly through initiatives like Edinburgh's BioQuarter—means innovation cycles happen faster.
AI Talent: Scotland's top research universities in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Stirling produce exceptional AI talent. Persi, a B2B AI-enabled personal shopping assistant, raised an oversubscribed £660k pre-seed round and is building out its technical team in Scotland through a research partnership with the University of Stirling. Cofounder Olivia Parkes says simply: "The talent up here is really strong."
Zelim, combining autonomous maritime vehicles with AI vision models for search and rescue operations, raised £5.2m in their Series A. Founder Sam Mayall credits Edinburgh's talent pool: "Access to talent is really good. Our tech team is based in Edinburgh and being a part of the CodeBase ecosystem has allowed us to hire great people."
The Power of Connection
Great talent and strong sectors aren't enough on their own. Founders need networks, mentorship, and access to decision-makers.
Rory Buchanan, CEO of AskVinny—an agentic real estate management tool now managing over 200k properties—describes how Techscaler opened doors: "Last month, I was doing a CodeBase panel with the head of Edinburgh City Council. It allowed me into the room with some of the biggest landlords in Edinburgh and I was actually budging policy by telling these public sector folks why I think they need to adopt AI more rapidly."
Olivia Parkes adds: "There are all these opportunities that just continue to come from the Techscaler programme with CodeBase, like additional networking into angel investment groups and building my profile within the Scottish investment community."
Meet the Ones to Watch 2025
This year's cohort represents the breadth and ambition of Scotland's tech sector. Here are the 16 companies featured in the report:
Glitchers - Games studio creating entertainment titles that also support cognitive health research through large-scale player engagement.
Persi - Fashion tech platform integrating personal wardrobe data into retailer sites to deliver more relevant and personalised recommendations.
Epass - Digital licensing and enforcement platform for public authorities, streamlining workflows and compliance through configurable software.
Portday - Maritime SaaS solution that automates port call management, invoicing and tariff handling for shipping agents worldwide.
Neurolabs - Computer vision platform using synthetic data to train AI models, enabling faster, cheaper and more scalable visual recognition systems.
Showboat - Creator economy platform that lets influencers and brands design, launch and monetise campaigns quickly with built-in collaboration tools.
Amytis - Amytis is a next generation virtual workspace for life sciences that unifies data, literature, experiments, and protocols into one interactive map to drive deeper insights for scientists.
Estendio - Glasgow-based technology company dedicated to creating inclusive digital solutions, such as the accessible presentation support app Present Pal, to empower individuals with disabilities.
Arctech - AI Odour Detection - Digital products using AI and insect intelligence for disease and pest detection.
AskVinny - AI-driven property maintenance and management service that simplifies and speeds up repairs ensuring quality and transparency for landlords and tenants.
QioT - Connected medtech platform providing respiratory monitoring and clinical decision support to improve patient outcomes through early detection and real-time insights.
Digiflec - Bootstrapped LiDAR innovator delivering high-value 3D insights and digital products for smart cities, generating recurring revenue through capital efficient growth.
Valla - Digital platform helping employees navigate workplace disputes with accessible, affordable legal support and clear guidance.
Aurora Avionics - Standardised guidance and control systems for satellites and launch vehicles, reducing cost and complexity for the space sector.
Infix - Cloud-based scheduling and workflow tools that streamline surgical operations, optimise resources and cut patient delays.
Zelim - Maritime safety technology offering AI-enabled detection systems and fast rescue craft to protect offshore workers and seafarers.
The Challenge Ahead
The founders we work with are clear-eyed about what needs to improve. Scotland could benefit from more active early-stage investment and greater risk appetite from investors backing ambitious, young startups. As Sam Mayall notes: "Compared to the US, there's far less risk appetite in the UK, and that's particularly true in Scotland."
But the pipeline is strong. Andrew McGinley sees it every day: "We have a lot of good quality pre-seed and seed companies in our pipeline. There are great companies doing great work in that early-stage pipeline, we've got to really just help them accelerate."
That's exactly what Techscaler is designed to do—connect founders with the expertise, networks, and support they need to scale faster.
Download the report to uncover the companies, insights and stories driving Scotland's next wave of innovation.
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