Scottish tech incubator expands to plug deep tech funding gap
A Scottish incubator is expanding nationally to bridge the gap between academic research and venture capital, aiming to stop the export of deep tech talent and attract outside investors.
A partnership between the University of Edinburgh, the Scottish government’s Techscaler programme, and growth platform CodeBase is expanding its deep tech incubator nationwide. Since 2021, the Venture Builder Incubator (VBI) has supported 164 founders, helping participating companies secure £58 million in grants and investments.
The expansion targets a critical bottleneck in the commercialisation of intellectual property. Scotland hosts two of the UK’s five quantum hubs and a strong AI research corridor between Edinburgh and Glasgow, but much of that innovation has historically leaked out of the country due to a lack of commercial acumen among academic founders.
To address this, the five-month programme teaches researchers how to pitch and price their companies correctly. Andrew Parfery, CodeBase's SVP Commercial & University Lead, noted that academics often arrive with unrealistic expectations. “If a founder turns up and says they want to raise £20k for 20% at pre-seed, we’ll immediately put the brakes on that,” he said.
The initiative acts as a filter and de-risking mechanism for venture capitalists. By focusing on storytelling, customer discovery, and sales skills, VBI attempts to transform niche researchers into investable chief executives. “Every great founder is a brilliant salesperson because they have to sell not just to their customers but investors, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders as well,” Parfery added.
Early results show the model can unlock institutional backing. Eva Steele, co-founder of AI biotech Amytis, secured match funding from Bethnal Green Ventures through Techscaler networks to unlock a Smart Scotland grant. Shivoh Nandakumar, founder of robotic safety startup Ridescan AI, used the incubator to secure interest from the University of Edinburgh’s venture arm after developing technology to monitor robots deployed in public spaces.
The ultimate objective is to shift Scotland’s role from an exporter of raw talent to a destination for institutional capital. Techscaler also runs international trips to connect founders with markets including Silicon Valley, New York, Singapore, China and Japan. “We need to start pulling the bigger players into the Scottish market rather than exporting all of our talent and ideas outwards,” Parfery said. “We want investors from outside of Scotland to come and see what Scotland's great universities have to offer."
