Fourteen founders of Scottish tech firms are preparing for a business mission to Silicon Valley – for a three-week intensive round of meetings with investors, potential customers and peers.
The startup and scaleup company leaders will join the Scottish Government’s Techscaler outreach programme in the Bay Area of San Francisco, from the 12th to the 31st of May.
As part of the programme, they will spend time based at the Mindspace co-working facility in downtown San Francisco, and attend the annual SaaStr conference between 13th and 15th of May.
The event, in the Bay Area, is focused on software as a service (SaaS) startups, and is billed as the world’s number one cloud computing gathering, with over 800 venture capitalists and around 300 speakers from the world’s top SaaS and AI companies.
Barry Leaper, CEO and founder of Aberdeen-based LiberEat, a startup automating error detection in the global food supply chain who participated in Techscaler Silicon Valley last year, said: “The programme was hugely beneficial for us and directly led to investment from the US, as well as being an invaluable learning experience.”
Anais Guillemaud, head of scaleup growth programmes at CodeBase, which runs the Techscaler programme, said: “International connections are instrumental to startup growth, leading to economic development through inward investment and job creation.
“In San Francisco and Silicon Valley, the ecosystem is at such a mature level, there is no language barrier, so meeting investors, customers, and peers happens very organically, supported by attending a world-class conference like SaaStr. The immersive experience will be invaluable for our startups, understanding that if they want to compete internationally, they have to reach the same standard as the best startups worldwide.”
Twenty-five tech leaders have participated in Techscaler Silicon Valley to date, in February 2024 and August/September 2024, with some already going onto secure investment and contacts stemming from the programme.
Now in its third year, Techscaler is aimed at creating, developing, and scaling tech startups. The programme, run by CodeBase and funded by The Scottish Government, now supports around 1,000 startups, with member companies having raised almost £120 million during its first two years of operation.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “From Singapore to Japan and now a third wave of companies travelling to Silicon Valley, the international Techscaler programme is providing Scotland’s startup companies with considerable opportunities to unlock further investment, develop new commercial partnerships and drive and showcase their businesses on a global stage.”
She added: “The programme has already generated tangible, positive outcomes for past participants, and I know the companies visiting Silicon Valley next month will seize the opportunity to collaborate with some of the biggest names in industry and take their business to the next level.”
