Flagship accelerator seeks ‘Scotland’s most promising tech founders’

Techscaler’s flagship accelerator is seeking Scotland’s most promising tech company founders for its latest cohort.

The Catalyst initiative is part of Techscaler - the Scottish Government’s programme for creating, developing and scaling tech start-ups, delivered by CodeBase. Now in its fourth year, Techscaler supports hundreds of early-stage ventures across the country, increasingly working with founders of start-ups with high-growth and scale-up potential.

The latest accelerator programme begins on March 3, running for ten weeks, is aimed at early-stage founders and is led by industry experts, supported by visiting entrepreneurs.

The Catalyst accelerator initiative from Techscaler is now in its fourth year.

Natalie Hotchkiss, head of early growth acceleration programmes at CodeBase, said: “Catalyst is designed to meet founders’ needs on their start-up journey, with dedicated support that evolves as founders progress. With visiting entrepreneurs helping to guide them throughout the process, they’ve got that invaluable input from founders who have ‘been there, done that’”.

All founders on Catalyst begin with “Build”, a core programme of sessions that focuses on understanding customers and markets, which Hotchkiss says gives participants, “a clear vision and validated direction of travel”.

Founders then either advance to the “Grow” sessions, building a minimum viable product, focusing on customer acquisition strategies, business model development and tackling real world challenges, or to “Refine”, where founders exit the accelerator to receive more ideation-focused support from the Techscaler team.

For founders aiming to raise early-stage capital, a further track, dubbed “Raise”, offers advanced workshops and tailored support to align the business model and funding strategy.

Andrew McGinley, entrepreneur in residence at CodeBase, said: “Raising your first investment as a founder is rarely a straightforward process. Pairing Catalyst founders with entrepreneurs who have raised investment before gives founders access to real, lived experience and a trusted sounding board to help them navigate the highs and lows and maintain momentum throughout the journey.”

Georgina Hollis, Catalyst visiting entrepreneur, added: “It’s hard being a founder at the early stages, navigating the world of not knowing what you don't know yet. The visiting entrepreneur role in Catalyst provides quick access to ad-hoc mentorship and support throughout the 10 weeks of intense activity.”

Applications for the Catalyst accelerator are open until February 17.