Techscaler backs Scotland’s university spinout push

The University of Edinburgh, Scottish government startup programme Techscaler and CodeBase are using the Venture Builder Incubator to turn Scottish university research into companies. The programme has supported 164 founders and businesses since 2021, and participants have raised £58m in grants and investment, according to figures cited by the programme.

No new financing round, valuation, revenue figure or headcount was disclosed. The relevant number is the incubator’s output to date, which is being used to argue that Scotland can convert more of its AI, biotech, robotics and quantum research into venture-backed companies rather than losing founders and IP to larger markets.

Scotland’s pitch starts with research density. Universities across the Edinburgh-Glasgow central belt have helped make the country a centre for AI and quantum work, and Scotland hosts two of the UK’s five quantum hubs. The problem identified by Andrew Parfery, SVP commercial and university lead at CodeBase, is less about research quality than commercial capability: academic founders often lack the sales, customer and investor experience needed to build a company from lab work.

From lab work to customers

The Venture Builder Incubator is a five-month programme for deeptech founders in Scotland. Since 2024, Techscaler has worked with the University of Edinburgh to expand it from an Edinburgh programme into a national one for university researchers across Scotland.

Parfery told Sifted that the programme pushes founders to spend time with customers early and to translate technical work into a market story. He also said programme managers spend time on pitching and sales, because founders have to sell to customers, investors, hires, suppliers and other stakeholders.

The programme also introduces academic founders to venture firms and investment basics. Parfery said the incubator intervenes when founders approach pre-seed fundraising with weak terms, giving the example of a founder proposing to raise £20,000 for 20% of the company.

Two companies highlighted from the programme show the type of research-led startups it is trying to produce. Ridescan AI, founded by Shivoh Nandakumar, is building safety and performance monitoring technology for robots. Nandakumar said the idea came from PhD work on robot behaviour after he saw a robotic dog wrongly identify what it had picked up.

Amytis, cofounded by Eva Steele, is developing an AI tool intended to help biological and wet lab researchers organise experiments and data. Steele said the company came from a need for better access to computational tools in biology, especially for researchers without advanced computing skills.

Techscaler’s role

Techscaler adds mentoring, peer networks and international market access. Nandakumar said founders can select mentors based on the stage and needs of the company, access that researchers typically do not have inside academia.

Steele said Techscaler’s network helped Amytis find Bethnal Green Ventures, which provided match funding tied to a Smart Scotland grant the company had received. The amount of that grant and match funding was not disclosed.

Parfery said Techscaler also runs international trips for founders, with destinations including Singapore, Silicon Valley, New York, China and Japan. He framed the programme’s larger aim as bringing outside investors and larger technology players into Scotland rather than exporting talent and ideas.

Applications for the next Venture Builder Incubator cohort are open until July 20 through the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre programme page.

This story draws on original reporting from Sifted.