Scottish Government launches first Techscaler hub in Silicon Valley

L- R Alex Macdougall of Unbagged, Alex Gordon-Furse of Playmaker, Olga Maksimova of Lovat Compliance at the Techscaler San Francisco Hub.

23 February 2024 - The Scottish Government has launched its first Techscaler hub in Silicon Valley to help promising startups from Scotland build contacts with international investors and customers.

The pilot programme is providing office space for 12 startups in San Francisco, one of the world’s leading startup communities, close to the city’s venture capital finance district. The new businesses are developing entrepreneurial ideas in areas from health technology to space tech.

Technology incubator CodeBase is running the programme and aims to create a permanent hub enabling business owners to remain in Scotland in the longer term while maintaining easy access to the San Francisco tech community.

Ahead of a speech in Edinburgh today on priorities for the Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy portfolio, Wellbeing Economy Secretary Mairi McAllan said: “Our £42 million Techscaler network is showcasing some of Scotland’s most promising startups on the global stage. The pilot Techscaler San Francisco hub is helping their businesses make connections in the world’s leading startup community.”

“The benefits are clear, our startups are expanding their networks and engaging with communities of like-minded individuals of owners, startups and investors. This will help increase their visibility and grow their businesses in the global marketplace.”

“Activities like this demonstrate Scotland’s ambition to become one of Europe’s leading startup communities, we are setting an example internationally and helping drive a fair and growing economy.”

Mindspace Co-Founder and CEO Dan Zakai said: "Mindspace works with governments from several countries to create landing spaces for startups. It's amazing that the Scottish Government has joined that list. We have seen first hand the value of exposing startups to the San Francisco tech ecosystem. We hope to do more in future and to make the Techscaler hub a permanent fixture."

Daniel Grant, founder of notation.dev, one of the first companies to use the hub, said: “Joining the San Francisco hub has energised me, and enabled me to connect with people from around the world working at the forefront of tech.”

The power of San Francisco is the velocity at which information moves through the city. It is a hyper-charged network that accelerates innovation, and connects founders with collaborators, prospects and investors faster than anywhere else in the world.”

Background for editors
The hub is located near the South Park District which is home to a large community of venture capital firms. Launched in November 2022, Techscaler was established in line with the key recommendations of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER), authored by Mark Logan, Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor to the Scottish Government. Techscaler is a nationwide tech startup support programme to build the Scottish tech ecosystem. Via community hubs across Scotland, the programme delivers startup education, mentorship, workspaces and a network of partnerships. Since it was launched in 2022, Techscaler has recruited 643 startup founder members across 517 startup companies.
Techscaler | Building Startups in Scotland

Scottish technology ecosystem: review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2023: A year of community

As we round off the year, we want to wish everyone a merry Christmas, a fabulous festive season and a happy new year, and say a huge thank you to our wonderful community.

Whether you came to one of our events, partnered with CodeBase on a big project, worked in hotdesking, spoke to us over pizza, quizzed with us, became a Techscaler member,  joined our programmes and education courses, or met with our mentors, we appreciate each and every one of you. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to do everything that we do, and we wouldn’t be able to look back on our year with such happiness, enthusiasm and pride.

In 2023, our CodeBase team grew to a whopping 85 members, doubling up in size over the past year. It’s been quite a year of growth and we’re excited to see what we can do together as we move forward bigger and better than ever. On paper we’re a tech startup incubator, but in reality we're a bunch of passionate individuals working together to fuel innovation all across the UK and we’re excited to keep collaborating with our community to achieve startup success for as many people as possible.

While CodeBase started in the heart of Edinburgh, over the past year our community has grown across Scotland, thanks to the efforts of our regional teams in Glasgow, Stirling, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness and the South of Scotland. We visited people by train, car, and even the overnight ferry to Shetland, and every interaction with our community left us feeling full of excitement and enthusiasm about the innovation going on all across the country. Thank you for welcoming us into your local communities with open arms.

When it came to sharing education with founders and their teams, we’ve run a bunch of programmes including Techscaler, LawtechUK, AgriTech Bridge, Care and HealthTech Bridge, Sustainability Bridge, Cyber Bridge, ClimateTech Community, Edinburgh Greentech Futures, Edinburgh MedTech Forums, and CodeClan. The wider community has been incredibly supportive as we’ve delivered these and it has been humbling to see the whole ecosystem join together in challenging times.

Again, a huge thank you to our partners this year. We now work with 50+ organisations to help achieve our mission to support startups and help them succeed, and we've teamed up with AccelerateHER, CivTech, DataKirk, NHS Innovation Hubs, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish EDGE and more to increase our support and engagement. 

We couldn’t have done it all without our mentors either. A huuuuuge 1,000 hours of mentorship have been delivered this year providing startup guidance, tech expertise and support for our members.

At our recent Startup Next Steps showcase, one participant said, “I always know if it’s a Techscaler event, it’s going to be fun” and that we create a friendly, informal welcoming environment. One startup founder even told us they were going to give up on their startup before we came along. We’re reluctant to blow our own trumpet, but that sort of feedback sums it all up for us: we want to enable people to grow and nurture their startups, but enjoy it at the same time, and make friends along the way.

There are exciting times ahead. Brace yourselves for announcements next year about what comes next. Stay tuned, and all the best to you and yours for 2024.

Take care,

Team CodeBase

Supporting CodeClan

Team CodeBase is heartbroken for our neighbours, CodeClan. Over the past eight years the students and staff that have gone through those doors have become part of our community, and have become friends, co-founders, and colleagues. We will miss them dearly, and we are doing everything in our power to help students and trainers moving forward.

There are lots of questions being asked about what has happened, why it happened, and what will happen next for all involved and for the wider community and ecosystem. We’ve shared Mark Logan’s comments about the unfolding situation here, and we’ve summarised the key pieces of information below. If you’ve got any questions about how CodeBase is helping, either as an affected student or staff member, or as someone who’d like to help, please get in touch here.

What happens to students?

For the courses that can be delivered, affected students will be able to complete their courses, and in cases where a course cannot be delivered,we will work with the affected students to make alternative arrangements. This activity will be funded by the Scottish Government, with CodeBase also bearing costs. Please use this contact form to tell us your needs and share your details so we can contact you about continuing your course, as a student or as a trainer.

What happens to staff?

Affected CodeClan trainers will be offered the option to deliver remaining cohort coursework, fully paid, if they so wish. They will be contacted from next week by Team CodeBase to go through the options. For non-training staff affected, we will try to do what we can to help and support, for now, we invite you to review our open roles and open roles in the community.

Where will the remainder of the coursework be delivered?

CodeBase’s Techscaler Hubs will host space and support facilitation of course delivery.

Why couldn’t it have been saved?

As CodeClan is a private company we don’t know the specific details of everything, but we’ve been told that in spite of exhaustive efforts, and every available option and avenue being explored, CodeClan couldn't be rescued with public funding due to strict legal constraints and rules.

What will happen next with CodeClan?

The appointed liquidators have accepted a bid from CodeBase for all CodeClan assets, following an extensive due diligence process. Once the needs of students and staff are addressed, we will look at a cross-ecosystem effort to rebuild a sustainable and suitable mechanism that serves the strategic tech talent pipeline needs outlined in the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER). This will involve gathering evidence, feedback, and input from across the ecosystem to best understand what is needed for prospective students, employers, and support organisations. We are committed to rebuilding a solution for the gap left in the ecosystem, as a collective, but we are prioritising the support for students and staff in the first instance.

What about the other support that has been put forward?

The way that the community has kicked into action and wrapped its arms around the students and staff has been truly amazing. It’s tough times like this that bring out the very best in folk, and shows how special and impactful we are as a collective. Mark Logan has personally reached out to the organiser of the crowdfunding campaign, and Alistair Forbes of Scottish Tech Army is speaking to the individuals and organisations who have publicly put forward offers of support. We’re all on the same page about helping students and staff and we will work with everyone who has already offered, or who would like to offer support. We are truly greater than the sum of our parts.

What happens next?

As a startup community, we understand that failures are a part of the entrepreneurial journey. It's in how we respond, learn, and rebuild that we define our resilience. While the CodeClan we knew has come to an end, the need it addressed remains and so Scotland must re-establish that channel. We are committed to collectively charting a new path forward, one that continues to address the critical demand for tech talent and supports the growth of our startup ecosystem.

This past week has been a difficult one for our community and particularly for our friends and colleagues who made CodeClan the organisation that it was. But it’s been a week that has also revealed the collective energy and passion that we have for our ecosystem. I hope we can channel this spirit in the coming weeks to support staff and students, and to embark on a strategic conversation about what we do next.

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Supporting CodeClan Students and Staff

Please use this form to get in touch with Team CodeBase about support for students and staff affected by CodeClan's closure.