Scottish cohort selected for Silicon Valley start-up event bringing together 3,000 ventures

A 20-person cohort of Scottish entrepreneurs will travel to Silicon Valley next month to take part in a conference that brings together more than 3,000 of the world’s best start-ups and scale-ups.

Startup Grind is the world’s largest community of start-ups, founders, innovators and creators based in some 125 countries, with 600 chapters worldwide. The 2022 Startup Grind Global Conference will bring together thousands of start-ups and scale-ups across this community and global tech entrepreneurial ecosystem.

From 178 applications from Scottish technology start-ups and scale-ups, an independent panel selected representatives from R3-IoT, HindSight, Bio Technical Scotland, Robotical, Coastr, Estendio, Hearing Diagnostics, Float, Yaldi Games, Lenz Labs, DragonflAI, Theo Health, Administrate, Liftango, PlayerData, Biscuit Tin Planning, BR-DGE, MoneyMatiX, TZAR! and Holoxica to take part in a programme of activities based around the conference.

The cohort is being supported by the Scottish Government’s Technology Ecosystem Fund.

Nick Murray, Startup Grind Scotland co-director; Tzaritsa Asante, founder of TZAR!; Mark Logan, advisor to Scottish Government, Scottish Technology Ecosystem, and former chief operating officer at Skyscanner; Allan Cannon, CEO and co-founder of R3 IoT; and Anna Brow, Startup Grind Scotland.

Support partner Scottish Development International will host a “pitch party” in Silicon Valley on April 14 where the cohort will have the opportunity to pitch their businesses to hand-picked US investors and meet Scottish success stories from the Global Scot network.

Startup Grind Scotland co-director Nick Murray said: “We’re honoured to bring together a richly diverse cohort, not only in the focus and stage of their businesses but also in age, ethnicity, gender and lived experience. Selected from locations across the country, our delegates are a true illustration of Scotland's eclectic entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“We know the trip will bring inspiration and professional opportunities, but we are also being very intentional about encouraging trust, openness and fostering peer relationships within the group.

“The cohort will return mid-April with invaluable experiences, new connections and a global mindset that we hope will benefit the Scottish tech ecosystem as a whole.”

Mark Logan, advisor to Scottish Government, Scottish Technology Ecosystem, and former chief operating officer at Edinburgh-founded Skyscanner, said: “The quality of the companies selected for the programme truly represents the ambitions of the Scottish Ecosystem Fund. There is enormous potential in every single leader in this cohort.”

Logan addressed the cohort at a closed-door event at CodeBase Edinburgh last week, outlining how the journey fits into the 2020 Logan Report’s recommendations.

He said: “The value of the Startup Grind Scotland Programme is huge, but so is your responsibility. There’s the responsibility to your company to learn and grow as leaders, and then there’s the responsibility to Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to bring back your new knowledge and share it with your peers.

“We established the Ecosystem Fund to ensure that Scottish entrepreneurs learn both from each other and other ecosystems worldwide, but it’s only meaningful if our leaders who learn from the world’s best ecosystems, then bring these learnings back to Scotland.”

The Technology Ecosystem Fund launched following the 2020 Logan Report, an independent review of the Scottish technology ecosystem.

The report provided recommendations on developing a world-class technology sector, calling for greater investment in activities that assist peer learning, networking and more connected, community-led initiatives to support entrepreneurs in Scotland.

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