Entrepreneurs given opportunity to travel to Silicon Valley with Startup Grind Scotland

Scottish start-up and scale-up founders are being offered the chance to head to Silicon Valley to help supercharge their growth – due to Startup Grind Scotland having secured funding to take successful applicants to its global conference there in April.

Financed by the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Fund, entrepreneurship community organisation Startup Grind Scotland will host a cohort of 20 founders, directors and c-suite executives from start-ups and scale-ups across Scotland at the two-day 2022 Startup Grind Global Conference.

Those selected will have flights, accommodation, conference tickets and travel costs covered by the Ecosystem Fund, and will spend a week in the entrepreneurship capital, complemented by visits to leading tech companies and Scottish success stories in the area. Startup Grind Scotland expects a high number of applications from a diverse group of leaders, with the deadline Wednesday February 16.

'We hope that this experience will help showcase Scotland's world-class start-up ecosystem on the international stage,' says Startup Grind Scotland. Picture: contributed.

Startup Grind Scotland director Dec McLaughlin said: "We are so grateful to the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Fund for providing us with the opportunity to take some of the most promising start-up and scale-up leaders from across the country to our global conference. It will allow them to dive into the international start-up ecosystem, get inspired by industry leaders, and create new connections with founders and business leaders from all over the world – all in the start-up Mecca that is Silicon Valley.”

"Taking the first step towards becoming a global business on a bootstrapped budget is no easy task, so this support will be vital for many young businesses. We hope that this experience will help showcase Scotland's world-class start-up ecosystem on the international stage."

The Scottish Government's Technology Ecosystem Fund launched following the 2020 Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review, which was was authored by Mark Logan, who is also the former chief operating officer at Skyscanner as well as being an advisor to the Scottish Government.

He said: “Fostering a greater sense of community and connection amongst our entrepreneurial talent is essential to strengthening Scotland’s tech sector. I’m delighted that the new Technology Ecosystem Fund is able to support Startup Grind to deliver this excellent programme. It’s a great opportunity for a diverse cohort of business-leaders to access new networks, opportunities and inspiration on a global stage.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.