Skyscanner sales may hit £120m in 2015

SKYSCANNER, the travel search engine which is regarded as one of Scotland’s hottest technology prospects, could see revenues hit around £120 million this year.

Gareth Williams (left), CEO of Skyscanner and Nigel Eccles, CEO of FanDuel, Scotland's 'Unicorns'. Picture: Robert Perry

That would mean the Edinburgh company has seen sales almost quadruple in just four years, highlighting the scaling up of the business which now has ten offices around the world.

Although the current financial year doesn’t end until 31 December, chief financial officer Shane Corstorphine hinted at the ballpark figure for this year’s revenue as he spoke at a conference staged by law firm MBM Commercial and US-based Silicon Valley Bank looking at funding options for growing Scottish companies.

At the event Gerald Brady, managing director of the bank’s venture capital arm, said the success of Scottish “unicorns” Skyscanner and FanDuel would bring long-term spin-off benefits to Scotland on top of the employment opportunities in the businesses.

“If you take the example of Hewlett-Packard, which was a pioneer for Silicon Valley in the US, that was behind many spin-off companies as some of the people involved went on to set up their own ventures. That recycling of entrepreneurs and capital could bring huge benefits to Scotland over time.“

Skyscanner, which recently launched a JV with Yahoo in a bid to crack the £46 billion Japanese market, employs some 450 people in Edinburgh and Glasgow out of a global workforce of more than 700.