The Scottish tech startup sector appears primed for a new era of exciting growth and development, says Turing Fest CEO Brian Corcoran.

Speaking to DIGIT at the two-day annual conference, Corcoran believes there is much to shout about in Scotland as the country moves away from the coronavirus pandemic.

Indeed, during what has been an unprecedented period he says Scotland’s tech startup scene has displayed remarkable resilience and found space to flourish.

Run as a hybrid conference this year, Turing Fest was a melting pot of discussion, debate and networking, giving delegates a chance to hear from speakers from top companies including, Wise, Yoast, FreeAgent, HubSpot, Administrate and Cazoo.

Turing Fest is more than just a gathering of minds, however. It’s an opportunity for Scotland’s burgeoning tech startup scene to showcase its potential and foster closer ties with global audiences.

Both of which are issues the ecosystem has traditionally struggled with, according to Corcoran.

“I think Scotland is not as good at selling itself as it could be. We need to improve our game in this regard,” he says.

“I’ve long believed that Scotland has the potential to be a genuinely outstanding tech ecosystem. We have a lot of the components needed for this, but we just need to build on it.”

Some of these building blocks are starting to fall into place, Corcoran notes. Over the last year, the broader tech sector appears to have weathered the storm with relative ease, and confidence remains high.

The Scottish Technology Industry Survey highlighted the sector’s continued optimism in the face of pandemic-related challenges. Half of respondents said they had increased sales and profit margins during this period while three-quarters revealed they were ‘very optimistic’ about the year ahead.

Across the startup scene specifically, Corcoran says this optimism should come as no surprise given the number of exciting firms Scotland continues to produce, as well as the steady volume of investment which continues to flow into the ecosystem.

In 2020, Scottish startups attracted £345m in funding. Similarly, a recent KPMG report found that VC investment in fast-growing Scottish companies surpassed £258m in Q2 2021 alone, bringing the total investment in Scottish scaleups to more than £320 million so far this year.

In May, a report from Dealroom and the Digital Economy Council also painted a positive picture for the Scottish tech scene, suggesting that four Scottish companies are on-track to reach ‘unicorn’ status.

Despite positive statistics, Corcoran feels there is still work to be done with regard to increasing VC investment in Scotland. Access to capital has long been a talking point in the Scottish tech scene.

In fact, Mark Logan’s Technology Ecosystem Review highlighted the issue as a key hurdle to future success and one that must be addressed if the ecosystem is to maximise its potential.

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Notably, the pandemic could act as a great leveller in this regard. After all, a remote world is a smaller one where relationships can be developed from afar.

“We used to have the old saying of ‘capital doesn’t travel’ and that you’d have to go to London, or the Valley, to secure funding. But Covid came along and changed the way VCs operate,” he says.

“They’ve been doing deals over Zoom and, in all likelihood, they’re not going to stop doing that as it’s way more efficient.”

In terms of its marketability as an ecosystem, Scotland is a great proposition for investors. Despite its relatively small size, the sector boasts a variety of startups spanning fintech, medtech, agritech, cryptocurrency, climatetech, traveltech and more.

“I get a lot of messages from VCs asking, ‘who should I talk to in Scotland?’ Before, that was much more of a London thing, but recently it’s become far more global. I’ve had discussions with people from Sweden, Israel, from Boston. There’s a growing interest.”

He adds: “From a VC perspective, Scotland is cheap. There’s good value deals here. We’re building some exceptional companies and it’s perhaps not as competitive to get into deals here as it would be in London, Paris or Silicon Valley.”

Emerging from the fog of the pandemic, Corcoran sees blue skies on the horizon for the startup ecosystem. This is evidenced by recent success stories, such as Current Health.

Earlier this year the Edinburgh-founded medtech firm secured £31 million in a Series B funding round. In October, the firm was acquired by US retail giant Best Buy, adding it to the list of Scottish tech successes alongside Skyscanner and FreeAgent.

Elsewhere, Glasgow-based space startup Alba Orbital recently secured $3.4m in funding from Y Combinator, the first Scottish company to raise investment from the fund. Both stories are examples which Corcoran says aspiring founders should look to for inspiration.

Scotland’s tech startup scene isn’t short of drive or inspiration, and Corcoran is confident that this current wave of ambitious founders will grasp the opportunities that are now falling into place.

“We had Skyscanner to show the way a few years ago, now we have Current Health showing the way for the future. If you’re a founder and building something that you think has potential, there’s so much capital and opportunity out there, go get it.”