Former Skyscanner chief financial officer Shane Corstorphine has called for an end to the ‘fragmented’ support given to Scottish tech firms in a report outlining a plan for growth in the nation’s tech economy.
In a new report, ‘Scaling Scotland: Building the Engine for the Next 50 Years of Prosperity’, by Corstorphine and a panel of local business leaders, a series of recommendations were made to ensure Scottish businesses can remain globally competitive.
The key recommendation was the establishment of a “Scottish Scale-Up Enablement Hub” that would consolidate the “fragmented support system” led by various public and private sector leaders.
The report also suggests reforming public co-investment and redirecting more capital to the highest potential companies while expanding access to high-value growth capital and increasing venture debt deals to preserve equity for founders.
“As things stand, our entrepreneurial landscape acts like a startup, whereas it needs to behave like a scaleup,” said Corstorphine.
“Much as a rapidly growing business must focus on strong leadership, strategy and outcomes, so must Scotland’s entrepreneurial community. Fundamentally, this must be driven by leaders in both the private and public sectors.”
The report notes that despite existing success in the Scottish business ecosystem, there are not enough businesses pushing beyond the early stages of growth.
It found Scotland is home to 1,500 scaleups with revenue up to £5m, 280 in the £5-10m bracket, 250 between £10-50m and just 85 firms with revenue greater than £50m.
“We need to stop making ambition a dirty word. We are going to be left in the dirt if we don’t wake up to the changes that are happening to the global economy,” said Ross McNairn, founder and chief executive of Wordsmith AI, a Scottish legal tech firm that raised $25m (£19m) earlier this year.
“AI is a high end talent game. Alienate it and watch other countries drain you dry.”
