Techscaler Programme 2022-2024: early evaluation - main report

3 Mobilisation and delivery

3.1 Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of Techscaler Programme implementation covering the mobilisation period, programme launch and the first two full years of delivery, including financial expenditure.

The contract between the Scottish Government and CodeBase has been designed to encourage and enable CodeBase to evolve the Techscaler Programme to meet the changing needs of tech startups and scaleups and in response to a rapidly changing world. An iterative model is at the core of the Techscaler Programme.

At the time of the early evaluation, the Techscaler Programme moved into its third year of delivery. As noted, the early evaluation covers the period to December 2024 and changes made since this time are not in scope and have not been described in this chapter. However, it is important to note that CodeBase has continued to refresh the service offer as well as develop new services and courses.

With a pipeline of Techscaler members at the ideation or early-stage now firmly established, CodeBase has shifted the balance of its efforts in 2025 to ensure the programme has a greater focus on growth-stage and scaling companies, while still supporting and inspiring those at the ideation stage and early-stage. An increased focus has been placed on supporting high–growth businesses, including creating the pathways to fast track these companies. This includes the provision of more targeted and intensive support for particular problem areas and more structured interventions.

Please also see:

• Appendix E — Techscaler Programme context
• Appendix G — International connectivity.
• Appendix I — Post 2024 changes to programme delivery (some examples).

3.2 Techscaler mobilisation period

Following the procurement exercise and scoring process, the Scottish Government identified CodeBase as its preferred service provider and delivery partner for the Techscaler Programme. Through the early evaluation, Scottish Government representatives highlighted CodeBase’s:

• understanding of its requirements for the programme.
• deep knowledge of the Scottish tech ecosystem — including staff with direct experience of working in tech businesses or who have been entrepreneurs themselves.
• innovative approach to delivery.

They said this helped the CodeBase bid to stand out from the other submissions.

The Techscaler Programme mobilisation period commenced on 8^th July 2022 and ended when the programme formally commenced on 30^th November 2022. CodeBase was required to submit a mobilisation plan to the Scottish Government within 30 days of contract award. The mobilisation plans shared with the evaluators as part of the early evaluation provided details of all the tasks and sub-tasks that were to be initiated and completed in the run up to formal programme launch. This included an array of tasks related to:

• recruitment.
• office accommodation and infrastructure.
• communications and marketing.
• securing education licences and partnerships.
• securing physical buildings (physical hub spaces), including fitout and decoration.
• virtual technology.

Mobilisation plans were monitored using a Red, Amber, and Green (RAG) approach. During the mobilisation period there were regular weekly meetings between Scottish Government and key senior individuals within CodeBase to enable the Scottish Government to provide support, answer queries, monitor progress and troubleshoot issues. A particular focus over the mobilisation period was to put in place the Techscaler foundational infrastructure to support the Scottish tech ecosystem.

The mobilisation of the Techscaler Programme has been a key and early success and was testament to the efforts of individuals within the Scottish Government and CodeBase involved in the procurement and mobilisation exercises. Most notably, this included CodeBase’s ability to:

• meet a relatively tight deadline in respect to the scale of the programme.
• scaleup employment (significantly) and to set up the physical regional hubs at pace.
• use its existing networks and connections to bring experienced team members into the programme, including some with startup, scaleup, and private sector backgrounds and experience.
• partner with other existing physical hubs to minimise the rental/lease costs to the Scottish Government — focusing expenditure on the staffing/events.
• design an actionable/deliverable programme that was a strong reflection of the STER recommendations.
• develop a series of online education modules that are now firmly part of the core offer and that require minimal updating going forward — allowing resources to be redirected to other areas of the programme.

As noted later in this chapter — Table 3.4 — a fixed fee of circa £1.8 million (excluding VAT) (4% of the total programme budget) was agreed for the mobilisation period. This expenditure was achieved in its entirety.

3.3 Techscaler membership

A growing Techscaler membership

Techscaler is a free national membership programme — it is open to anyone in Scotland working in startups who are at all stages of the startup journey, from ideation through to scaling, and with ambitions to grow the business. To become a Techscaler member and gain member benefits (such as education, mentorship, community–building), applicants are required to complete an online application form.

Figure 3.1 shows Techscaler membership in its first two years of delivery.

Source: Techscaler Annual Reports 2023 and 2024.

Note 1: The Techscaler Annual Report 2024 presents updated data for individual and company members in 2023 following an ongoing exercise to review and clean the data. The Techscaler Annual Report 2023 set out membership as 643 and 517 respectively.

Note 2: The company membership figures are included in the individual members figures too (that is, it is not in addition to the individual membership).

Points to note include that:

• Techscaler membership numbers got off to a very strong start in 2023 and membership has continued to grow in 2024.
• individual Techscaler membership stands at 1,411 members in 2024 — an increase of 57% since 2023.
• the number of Techscaler company members has grown over the same period — by 49% to 978 members in 2024.
• from the data provided in the annual report it is not possible to tell the extent of the individual membership who are employed in the same company.

Techscaler membership by gender and age band

Figure 3.2 and Figure 3.3 provide a breakdown of Techscaler membership by gender and age. Points to note from the data include that:

• 36% of members are female — this is a good level of representation and is is higher than the industry average where 20% of SME employers are women-led (defined as a business with the majority of the combined total number of owners, partners and directors being female). The majority (61%) of Techscaler members are male.

• Techscaler members span a wide range of age-bands, with almost three-quarters under the age of 44 years.

Source: Data provided directly by CodeBase. Base = 560.

Note: The gender data is self-reported and there are some data gaps.

Source: Data provided directly by CodeBase. Base = 560

Note: The age data is self-reported and there are some data gaps.

Techscaler membership — reach and coverage

Figure 3.4 presents a map of the Techscaler membership and companies at a regional level.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024.

The main points to note from the data include that:

• Techscaler is a pan-Scotland programme — the offer has been designed to reach all areas of Scotland including those on Islands. Over two-thirds (69%) of the Techscaler membership are based in the central belt — this is, however, where the main population and business bases are located.
• there has been strong growth in Techscaler membership across all regions in Scotland since 2023 — the highest growth has been in Glasgow and West, followed by Dundee and Tayside.
• the location of physical hubs shape the actual geographical reach and engagement of projects and programmes such as Techscaler — for example 38% of the Techscaler membership are based in Edinburgh and Lothians and 20% are based in Glasgow and West. As noted above, these regions are where the main population and business bases are located, and the location of hubs, especially those in more rural or mixed geographies will naturally be limited to people who can easily physically travel there. This is further reflected in the proportion of the Techscaler membership based in the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland, for example.

Wider membership data (at point of application) shows that medtech^[6] and edtech^[7] businesses are the main sectors represented in the Techscaler membership base — combined 24% of total membership (each account for 12%).

Membership segmentation

Approach to segmentation

Once an online application to become a Techscaler member is submitted, it is reviewed by CodeBase to check eligibility for access to the programme. Eligible applicants then have an introductory call with CodeBase to discuss how they can get the most from their Techscaler membership.

Techscaler members are also encouraged to complete an online growth plan within two weeks of their initial meeting. The growth planning exercise is designed to help members and CodeBase better understand members’ key areas of focus and priorities over the coming 12 months and to inform how the programme can best respond to the specific needs of its members.

At the application stage CodeBase undertake an internal exercise to segment Techscaler members into one of four business stages, based on information provided in the application form. The internal segmentation process has been designed to enable founders/members access tailored support.

Once accepted as a Techscaler member they are emailed with stage-relevant support — when applications open for a Techscaler Silicon Valley cohort, a new education course, or to book a mentoring session, for example. If a new Techscaler member joins when the application window for the programme opportunity is closed, they can register their interest in advance so that CodeBase has a sense of how many new members are interested between cohorts. There is, however, support that is 'always on' in the form of mentorship, Techscaler discovery, and events.

CodeBase has also evolved its segmentation definitions based on user feedback, as shown below in Table 3.1. These new signals are being used for 2025 delivery and company categorisation.

Table 3.1: Techscaler membership segmentation definitions

Stage	Definitions used over the first two years of the Techscaler Programme	How definitions have since changed
Ideation stage	An individual with an idea but no clear focus or commitment to building a company.	Member with an idea.
Early-stage	An individual focused on a specific market or problem space. They may/may not have a registered business, prototype, or Minimum Viable Product (MVP) but are dedicating time to advancing their idea.	Member has a registered company or has a MVP/ demo/prototype or is spending at least eight hours a week on exploring and building their idea.
Growth-stage	A company with a live product looking to acquire customers and may/may not have existing customers.	Member has Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) or annual revenue of £250,000 or has pre-seed investment and meets all prior requirements.
Scaling	A company with a live product, revenue, and a team including department heads/specialists (for example, product team, engineering team, growth team).	Member has £1 million ARR or has seed funding and meets all prior requirements.

Note: While the refreshed segmentation definitions are not relevant for the timeline of this early evaluation we have presented them in the table above for information purposes. We refer to different business stages in our Conclusions and Recommendations Chapters and the new definitions provide relevant context.

Techscaler membership is predominantly very early-stage

The majority (60%) of Techscaler members (startups supported) at the time of becoming a member are at a very early-stage of their startup development journey — that is at the ideation stage or early-stage. The remainder (40%) are either at the growth or scaling stages, see Figure 3.5.

While companies in later stages (growth and scaling) have steadily joined Techscaler over the first two years of delivery, the most significant increase in members has come from very early-stage founders. In the early years of programme delivery the Scottish Government and CodeBase considered this approach necessary to fill and widen the funnel of early-stage companies entering the Scottish tech economy.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024.

Variation in membership base at a regional level

Figure 3.6 provides more detail on Techscaler membership by business stage.

Points to note from the data include that there is variation at a regional level among the Techscaler membership in terms of business stage — Edinburgh and Lothians and Glasgow and the West have larger concentrations of members at the growth and scaling stages when compared to other regions, albeit some regions have started from a smaller base.

Source: Codebase.

Figure 3.7 provides detail on membership by annual revenue. Points to note include that:

• similarly there is variation among the Techscaler membership in terms of annual revenue generated — the data paints a slightly different picture in that a majority of the membership typically have annual revenue of less than £500,000 (this includes those members located in regions with larger concentrations of members at the growth and scaling stages).
• the exception is the South of Scotland which has an equal split of Techscaler members with an annual revenue of less than £500,000 or more than this.

Source: Codebase.

3.4 Techscaler delivery in its first two years

Over the first year two years of Techscaler Programme delivery, activity and support was designed and developed across the programme’s three strategic pillars.

CodeBase, through the Techscaler Programme, continues to provide accessible support to entrepreneurs and founders from all over Scotland to:

• strengthen entrepreneurial skills and mindsets.
• create a supportive environment where founders (and their teams) can build better startups faster.
• enable businesses to improve their growth prospects.

The programme’s support has been tailored for those at every stage of starting and scaling a tech business, see Figure 3.8 — with enhanced levels of support available as founders/startups progress along their startup journey. In addition, Techscaler community and events activities, including those delivered in partnership with other ecosystem partners, are delivered throughout the year.

The programme’s support has been designed to be flexible and adapt to members’ changing needs and circumstances. For example, members can take part when it suits them and can also defer attending an education course to a later cohort or take a break from mentorship.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024.

At an early stage in its delivery period, the Techscaler Programme has been recognised as Sifted’s 13^th best first founder communities in Europe (August 2025).

3.5 Pillar one — build core startup and scaleup skills

Scottish entrepreneurs can access expert-led Techscaler Programme education courses and mentorship sessions which provide them the practical playbooks, frameworks, and tools needed to launch and grow their business. The underpinning rationale is that building startups is teachable, and that being playbook-literate can help communicate and build ideas better, and faster.

Education programmes

The Techscaler education programmes are delivered by experienced founders and expert industry operators and are positioned as the backbone of the programme — to help drive CodeBase’s engagement with new pools of founders to work with.

The Techscaler education programmes, as described below, have been designed to:

• focus on building core startup and scaleup skills.
• support founders to learn from other entrepreneurs who have been on the same journey.
• connect founders with fundraising opportunities.
• create a strong cohort community (peer support and learning).

Techscaler members can access: online education courses — self-paced and self-guided courses via the Techscaler Online Community Platform which can be started at any time and members can work at their own pace; and cohort-based courses and workshops to learn the skills needed to build, grow, and scale their startup.

As noted, STER emphasised the importance of education since pre-tipping point ecosystems such as Scotland will typically lack a critical mass of experienced founders and senior employees.

Hybrid delivery and format of the education courses differ with each course cohort (reflecting CodeBase’s commitment to iterate based on founder feedback), and has included:

• a blend of online and live delivery (moved to different hubs each week).
• ‘watch parties’ and live delivery (moved to different hubs each week) as well as the option for independent online attendance.
• online delivery only, with cohort meetups in the first and final weeks (and during the course).

Online teaching helps ensure reach in areas with lower startup density as well as reducing barriers to travel. Watch parties and live delivery provides opportunities for founders to engage with, learn from, and support their peers who are at similar stages.

Enrolment in Techscaler Programme education courses has remained broadly consistent across 2023 and 2024. The data shows:

• 742 members enrolled in education programmes since Techscaler launch
• 52% of all members enrolled in education programmes since launch

This data shows that 742 (around half) Techscaler members have enrolled in Techscaler Programme education courses since the programme’s launch — this is a good level of participation. The education programmes have been refined and updated over the first two years of delivery based on learning and experience to date, including feedback gained directly from participants and from those delivering courses and workshops.

Data provided by CodeBase shows that enrolment in education courses has been strongest among scaling and early-stage members, see Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Techscaler members enrolled in Techscaler Programme education courses (2023 and 2024) by stage

Stage	Percentage of total stage membership enrolled
Ideation	39%
Eary-stage	42%
Growth	36%
Scaling	53%

Source: CodeBase.

Note: 742 individuals were enrolled and CodeBase tracks company by stage, so there might be a slight variance in these figures (for example, a small number of ideation stage participants may not be associated with a company).

In the first two years of delivery, CodeBase has iterated the Techscaler Programme education content to help ensure members can both mitigate the risks of AI and Deep tech^[8] and make the most of potential opportunities.

Almost 50% of Techscaler members do not enrol in education courses which reflects the fact that not all members need the same type of support, etc. As reflected in the member and mentor feedback, some Techscaler members:

• may not all be looking for this type of support.
• may not be at the right stage to access this support.
• may have already accessed this information and knowledge in other ways (for example, online, in books, involvement in accelerators, etc.) — and do not feel they need it.

Further, drawing on support and networks from the community can sometimes be enough to encourage new founders to tip into seriousness.

Startup Basics (now known as Techscaler Discovery)

The Startup Basics course was delivered over the first two years of the programme^[9]. Startup Basics was a free online self-paced course aimed at anyone with an idea or an interest in startups who was unsure where to begin. The course included modules covering aspects such as: startups and how they grow; where do startup ideas come from; what skills do I need; working with others; culture, values, and leadership; funding a startup; discovering customers and markets; and early product experimentations.

The Startup Basics course was designed to demystify startups, address common doubts in prospective founders about idea viability and development, teach the fundamentals of building and growing a startup, as well as instil industry language and transition mindsets from employee to founder. Startup Basics delivery included videos and exercises to encourage participants to reflect and refocus — to think about their own circumstances, further develop an idea they might have, and cultivate a learning-based approach to creating a new business.

Startup Basics enrolment, which increased from 2023 to 2024:

• 193 enrolments in Startup Basics in 2023.
• 232 enrolments in Startup Basics in 2024.
• a total of 425 enrolments by the end of 2024.
• 17% increase in enrolments over this period.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2023 and 2024. Note: Startup Basics is a self-paced online programme and people go through this programme at their own pace. As such completion rates are not available.

During 2024, additional modules were added to Startup Basics (for example, discovering customers and markets, and early product experimentations) and existing modules were also updated to incorporate the impact of AI.

Startup First Steps

Startup First Steps was delivered in 2023 and 2024 and involved three cohorts in total. Delivery of First Steps in this form has stopped^[10].

The 12-week Startup First Steps course was designed for early-stage startup founders looking to develop a tech startup from ideation to launch, get a first version of their product into market, and start acquiring customers. Course sessions were designed to be highly collaborative, with lectures from industry experts and practical activities and group discussions to support the application of learning.

Startup First Steps aimed to help founders fail less at the early hurdles and set a strong foundation upon which to build and grow a tech startup and support the widening of the funnel later on. The course included aspects such as building a strong problem area, customer and market understanding, before undertaking solution experimentation, MVP building and launch tactics. Course delivery was underpinned with operational fundamentals for the business of a tech product, including business model innovation, funding, pitching and business obligations.

First Steps enrolment also increased from 2023 to 2024:

• 210 enrolments in Startup First Steps in 2023.
• 276 enrolments in 2024.
• total 386 enrolments by end of 2024.
• 24% year‑on‑year increase in enrolments.
• 88% completion rate across 2023–2024 combined.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2023 and 2024. Note: Completion rate provided directly by CodeBase.

CodeBase confirmed they received more applications than they had places available (which demonstrates a strong level of demand).

Techscaler Quarterly Review reports highlighted that some members dropped out of the First Steps course because they may have been at too early a stage for this course. If this was the main or only reason for course drop out, then this suggests there could be further scope for improved segmentation and needs assessment to be undertaken to ensure members access the right course at the right time, etc. As noted, CodeBase has refreshed its segmentation approach to support delivery in 2025.

Startup Next Steps

Startup Next Steps was delivered in 2023 and 2024^[11] and as noted has been replaced with a revised programme based on user feedback and learning.

Startup Next Steps was a practical course designed for founders (and senior team members) who had a product live in the market and were looking to scale. The rationale for this course was that a lack of clear understanding within the Scottish ecosystem about achieving product/market fit contributed to startup failure. Startup Next Steps looked to address this by focusing on product development, business planning, growth strategies, sales, team building, funding, and pivoting in response to market signals.

Unlike other Techscaler Programme education courses, enrolment in Startup Next Steps declined in 2024 — a 55% decrease from the previous year.

However, it should be noted that CodeBase made a deliberate decision to reduce the cohort size between cohorts 1 and 2, to offer more targeted support to founders at this stage.

The Techscaler Quarterly Review report (October 2024) noted that drop out from the Startup Next Steps course largely occurred because:

“Startup Next Steps is not yet serving the ‘enabling more startups to achieve product/market-fit’ purpose. We believe Startup Next Steps is too prescriptive and not timely enough when they experience the need for support.”

Startup Next Steps course enrolment and completion rate (2023 and 2024)

• 66 enrolments in Startup Next Steps in 2023
• 30 enrolments in 2024
• A total of 96 enrolments by the end of 2024
• Startup Next Steps completion rate is 72%

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2023 and 2024. Note: 70 unique companies participated to the end of 2024.

Reforge

A formal partnership has been established between CodeBase and Reforge — a world leading career development platform for top–tier professionals in tech — the partnership arrangement offers Techscaler scaling members with a six-month membership to Reforge’s platform.

Reforge provides Techscaler members (founders and senior specialists within scaleups) with access to cohort-based courses/programmes, on-demand access to content and community, and events to give teams the tools they need to support growth beyond product/market fit and to further scale up. Techscaler participants are onboarded in cohorts throughout the year.

There has been a 61% increase in participation among Techscaler scaleup companies in Reforge over the period 2023 to 2024 — this confirms that interest and demand for this type of education support has been strong. Indeed, CodeBase confirmed that Reforge has been well subscribed to with consistent interest from scaling member employees.

Over 200 members from 50+ companies have been supported by Reforge by the end of 2024.^[12] It delivered cutting-edge Silicon Valley playbooks to scaling leaders, helping them adopt new ways of working, grow faster, and strengthen the talent across our ecosystem.

Funding Accelerator

The Techscaler Programme Funding Accelerator pilot launched in November 2024 and ran until February 2025.^[13] The pilot was operated in partnership between CodeBase and its delivery partner Focused for Business. The12-week online programme with weekly sessions and assignments, using a ‘sprint’ format. The pilot was aimed at Techscaler members (founders/C-suite) with proven products and early traction; equity raising for the first or second time (within 12-months of the support). CodeBase reached out directly to existing Techscaler members they identified as suitable candidates.

The Funding Accelerator pilot supported 10 startups as originally planned who were looking to raise first or second rounds of equity investment, in the £100,000 to £1 million range. As part of the pilot participating founders and startup company executives were exposed to aspects including valuation and financial planning investor engagement, pitching, building ‘data rooms’ for investors, maximising advisory services, through to negotiating and closing deals.

CodeBase confirmed that they have experienced increased demand for more courses that addresses this need and are currently working on another iteration of the Funding Accelerator.

Mentorship programme

Mentorship within the Techscaler Programme has provided a one–to–one opportunity for founders to be matched with experienced startup experts to support business and professional growth.

The mentorship programme predates the Techscaler Programme — CodeBase is a Barclay’s Eagle Labs partner and CodeBase had an existing contact for the provision of mentoring support. When the Techscaler Programme launched in November 2022, CodeBase already had some staff, processes, and a pool of around 25 mentors working across CodeBase activity that could also support the Techscaler Programme. The mentor pool has been expanded significantly — it now has around 150 mentors.^[14]

Individuals interested in becoming a Techscaler mentor are required to complete an online form, then have an interview/discussion with CodeBase, and also complete an exercise to identify their relevant sectoral and areas of expertise. Onboarding processes enable new Techscaler mentors to speak with and shadow an existing experienced Techscaler mentor before their own mentoring journey takes place, and Techscaler mentors are also invited to participate in:

• online mentor meet ups — opportunities to connect with other mentors.
• mentor mixers — an informal get together of mentors and founders a few times a year.

CodeBase indicated that the organisation prioritises the recruitment of mentors with direct experience in founding and working within successful tech startups and scaleups to help build trusted relationships between mentors and mentees building relationships which are firmly rooted in practical business knowledge and a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial journey. Mentors are recruited to the mentor pool to bring real-life experience of the issues and challenges Techscaler members face.

CodeBase said the company has not required to undertake a recruitment exercise for mentors since the launch of the Techscaler Programme — interest in becoming a mentor is reported by CodeBase to have been strong, and is further evidenced by the large mentor pool.

Not all Techscaler mentors are active to the same degree — in part this depends on the type of mentoring support needed by mentees (for example, general mentoring support or more specific/technical support). This may also reflect other factors such as:

• the quality of the mentor pool — that is, the extent to which all mentors have direct experience in founding and/or working in tech startups and scaleups.
• the size of the mentor pool.

Mentorship is the most frequent reason founders apply to CodeBase to become a Techscaler member — the 2023 Annual Report specified that circa 85% of Techscaler members identified mentorship as a key motivation at the application stage.

Mentorship is frequently identified when Techscaler members complete their growth plan — this then triggers the matching process between mentor and mentee which is undertaken by CodeBase.

The Techscaler member survey undertaken as part of this early evaluation of the Techscaler Programme confirmed that access to expert mentorship advice, guidance, and support was the joint top motivating factor for becoming a Techscaler member (Engaged members feedback, Chapter 4.4).

Further CodeBase’s mentorship programme was ranked 6^th in Europe's Leading Startup Hubs (Financial Times, March 2024) which shows that it is well-regarded.

The mentorship process is tailored to align with each founder’s unique background, expertise, and immediate needs. As part of the programme, new Techscaler members engage in an initial mentoring session to evaluate their current status and formulate/revise a strategic growth plan tailored to their needs.

During the first two years of the Techscaler Programme:

• early-stage businesses have been able to access one mentorship session a month.
• growth-stage businesses have been able to access two sessions a month.
• scaling businesses have been able to access three sessions month — there is some flexibility built in for scaleups to request additional mentorship sessions if they have a specific ask (this is assessed by CodeBase on a case-by-case basis and is dependent on factors such as available budget, etc.).

Mentorship support most in demand has been:

• product market fit.
• investment readiness/fundraising.
• product refinement.
• growth strategies.
• building teams.

There are some differences in need for mentoring support by business stage:

• at the early-stage specifically there has been demand for user acquisitions, product development, and sales and marketing in particular.
• for growth and scaling stages, strongest interest has been for leadership skills, internationalisation/global expertise, and partnerships.

CodeBase undertake follow ups with the mentor and mentee after their first session to check whether they are both happy with the match and whether the first session went well.

Figure 3.9 shows that participation in, and delivery of, mentorship has increased over the period 2023 to 2024. The Net Promoter Score below shows that satisfaction with this aspect of the Techscaler Programme remains high.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2023 and 2024.

Up to the end of 2024, Techscaler mentorship relied on direct, manual outreach and was tightly coupled with the membership journey and onboarding.

Techscaler mentorship programme (2023 and 2024)

• Techscaler has a pool of 150 mentors from across Scotland (23% are female)
• 45% of Techscaler members have received mentoring support
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) for mentorship remains high at 90 which is excellent*

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2023 and 2024.

Note 1: An update from CodeBase is that there are currently 279 mentors working across all CodeBase activity, of which 199 are Techscaler mentors (125 are currently active mentors).

Note 2*: NPS is a recognised way for businesses and organisations to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. The question asked is a rating scale asking the respondent to select a number from 0 (least likely to recommend) to 10 (most likely to recommend). Depending on the number that each respondent selects, they are grouped into one of three groups: Promoters are respondents who select a 9 or 10 rating. This group represents the most satisfied customers, who are highly likely to recommend the service to others; Passives are respondents who select a 7 or 8 rating. This group is relatively satisfied. However, they could choose a competitor based on price, new features, customer service or other factors; and Detractors select a rating between 0 to 6. They are the least content customers. They are at risk of leaving and sharing their negative experiences with others. NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. The NPS will be between -100 and 100. A score of -100-0 (needs improvement), 1-29 (good); 30-69 (great); 70-100 (excellent).

3.6 Pillar two — foster social infrastructure development

The Techscaler Programme has sought to nurture a supportive community which supports founders and team members to make valuable connections, explore collaborative opportunities, and find relevant support from ecosystem builders and experts.

Hub network

In line with the STER, the Scottish Government specified that a national network of at least five Techscaler physical hubs were to be established in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Inverness. These locations were identified based on evidence presented in the STER relating to scale, lessons from other ecosystems, proximity to essential partners, and the importance of looking outward.

The rationale for the provision of the Techscaler hub network was that high quality spaces are viewed as critical to success and that they could help to address barriers around access and opportunity — in that the cost of accessing office/ workspace can often be prohibitive for startups, and provision may not always be flexible enough to meet their specific needs. Hub spaces can also foster a sense of community and collaboration and encourage a culture of cooperation and innovation (that is, startups often gravitate to areas where other startups already exist or are based).

By the end of 2024, Techscaler had six regions with physical hubs and eight pop up hubs (more than that specified by the Scottish Government).

Edinburgh and Stirling are the only physical hub sites operated directly by CodeBase (and pre-dated the Techscaler Programme) — all others are operated by partners.

These regional hubs are situated in: Aberdeen (ONE Tech Hub); Dundee (Abertay University Cyber Quarter); Dumfries (a partnership with Midsteeple Quarter the base is within The Standard); Edinburgh (CodeBase Edinburgh); Glasgow (Glasgow Eagle Lab which part of the Barclays Eagle Lab Campus); Inverness (Wasps Inverness Creative Academy); and Stirling (CodeBase Stirling).

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024.

Note: The Dumfries hub was only confirmed in November 2025.

The regional hubs typically comprise a mix of hot-desking, co-working, private office space, meeting space, and/or event space. Techscaler members who are not also hub tenants may be able to pay for meeting rooms and event spaces directly with the hub space, but the arrangement varies by hub partner.

CodeBase does not incur a cost for running the physical spaces (other than for the Edinburgh hub). Rather the main cost associated with the hub network is staffing — that is, for the Engagement Teams).

This is further reflected in Table 3.4 later in this chapter which provides a breakdown of how the Techscaler Programme budget has been spent by CodeBase in the first two years of programme delivery — this confirms that accommodation costs have represented a small proportion of total spend to date.

During 2024, the six dedicated regional hubs have been supplemented by eight Techscaler ‘pop-up’ hubs operated by partners in locations in Clackmannanshire, Fife, and the Scottish Borders.

CodeBase has embedded Techscaler Engagement Teams in each regional ecosystem, including Heads of Regional Engagement (first point of contact for founders, stakeholders, and partners), Community Managers, and in some hubs Events Support. The role of Engagement Teams is to respond to the specific needs in their region and to build community through regular engagement with founders.

This includes hosting events and hybrid delivery of education programmes to maximise accessibility of the programme support. Techscaler engagement is now managed centrally.

Information collected at the Techscaler member application stage indicates that accessing workspace is of least interest to those looking to become a member/ access support. That is, accessing workspace has not been a key motivator for participation in the programme to date. One-third intimated interest in co-working, 26% in hotdesking, and 23% in dedicated office space. This is as expected given the sustained trend in distributed teams post COVID-19.

The Techscaler members survey undertaken as part of this early evaluation also found that access to an affordable place to work or meet from was not a key motivating factor for joining Techscaler (only reported by 2%) (see Engaged members survey). That being said, some interest was expressed for future use.

CodeBase noted that it was difficult to secure information from hub partners on hub occupancy based on Techscaler members alone. However, for the two hubs CodeBase manages, the data is as follows^[15]:

• Edinburgh — Techscaler members are 43% of the total hub occupancy — broken down further, that figure is 60% for offices and 23% for coworking.
• Stirling — Techscaler members are 57% of total hub occupancy.

Community and events

Fostering and building a community for Techscaler members to connect, learn and grow with is at the heart of the Techscaler Programme’s approach — the programme was designed to provide supportive environments along with opportunities to help members forge new relationships and connections, share knowledge and experiences.

Techscaler Programme community and events activity seeks to connect people/ founders at all stages of the startup journey as well as across the ecosystem in Scotland and beyond. Together with the hub networks, community and events supported via the programme look to provide founders and their teams access to the physical and social infrastructure required to develop and grow successful startups.

Events held to date include a mix of Codebase/Techscaler Programme hosted events and those hosted in partnership with other organisations which is a sensible approach. In 2023 and 2024, almost half of the total events held were run in partnership between CodeBase and other organisations, and circa one-fifth had a diversity, equality, and inclusion focus.

Figure 3.11 shows that:

• there have been circa 18,000 cumulative event attendees since the launch of the Techscaler Programme — there has been a slight dip in event attendance in 2024 when compared to 2023.
• CodeBase currently has 3,000 digital community members — there has been a dip in the growth of the digital community membership between 2023 and 2024.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2023 and 2024.

Codebase note that while they track attendance at events and correlate to Techscaler CRM, there are elements outside CodeBase’s control such as members signing up with different email addresses and their attendance not correlating to their member record.

Most events have been held in-person and across all regions — half were held in Edinburgh and Lothians, see Figure 3.12. As reported in the Engaged members feedback (Chapter 4) and Partner and stakeholder views (Chapter 6) there remains a perception in some quarters that the Techscaler Programme has a focus that does not extend beyond the central belt.

It should, however, be noted that the specification for the Techscaler Programme specifies the assumption that 50% of activity would be in Edinburgh, 25% in Glasgow, 10% in Dundee, 10% in Aberdeen, 5% in Inverness.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024

Other data provided by CodeBase as part of the evaluation shows the number of Techscaler-related events held at each of the hubs and attendance:

• Aberdeen — 49 events and 1,329 attendees (average 27 per event).
• Stirling — 199 events and 2,797 attendees (average 14 per event).
• Dundee — 78 events and 1,342 attendees (average 17 per event).
• Edinburgh — 408 events and 8,756 attendees (average 21 per event).
• Glasgow — 85 events and 1,389 attendees (average 16 per event).
• Inverness — 60 events and 1,018 attendees (average 17 per event).

The data above, for the period November 2022 to December 2024, shows that a majority (69%) of these events were held in hubs where CodeBase is the landlord, and over half were held in the central belt (in line with the Techscaler Programme specification).

Partnerships

Over the first two years of Techscaler Programme delivery, CodeBase has sought to develop and widen formal partnerships with a range of organisations across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In doing so CodeBase has sought to form a wider support network for the programme that is greater than the sum of its parts — playing to the strengths and capabilities of each partner in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to support tech startups and scaleups.

As well as helping to signpost and facilitate connections across Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem so that startups and scaleups can access other support.

By the end of 2024 CodeBase reported that it has developed formal partnership working arrangements with 63 organisations (a steady increase of 11% from 2023). Partners for the Techscaler Programme span, for example:

• local and national government.
• other public sector partners — for example, enterprise agencies, universities.
• innovation centres and innovation-related support providers.
• other business support providers and industry bodies — for example, sector, equality, diversity and inclusion specific organisations.
• startup and scaleup accelerator organisations.
• funders and investors.

CodeBase’s formal partnerships for the Techscaler Programme (2023 and 2024)

• 56 partnerships in 2023.
• Increased to 63 partnerships in 2024.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024.

The nature and depth of this engagement is equally varied — for example, from co-hosting events to joint grant schemes.

3.7 Pillar three — increase investor connectivity and internationalisation

CodeBase, via the Techscaler Programme, has also sought to foster actionable connections between founders and investors, creating accessible funding pathways for high potential companies, offering global opportunities through international residencies, and hosting investor events in Scotland.

Fundraising

The STER noted that raising capital is a fundamental requirement for many startups — the Techscaler Programme has supported companies by helping founders and their teams to develop the skills and connections necessary for fundraising. CodeBase does this by partnering with organisations, including Scottish Enterprise and Panache Ventures.

The capital raised by Techscaler members as detailed in the Techscaler Annual Report 2024 is presented below:

• £54.1 million capital raised by member businesses by the end 2023.
• £63.3 million capital raised by member businesses during 2024.
• a total of £118 million capital raised by member businesses over the first two years of the programme.^[16]

Points to note include that:

• the £118 million capital raised by member businesses since the Techscaler Programme began (to the end of December 2024) is based on the investment figures reported by Beauhurst, which is based on a combination of account filings and announced raises — this indicates market faith in future returns and the metric helps to demonstrate improvement for the Techscaler Programme and wider ecosystem in Scotland.
• the £118 million has been raised by 147 companies — this represents 15% of Techscaler’s 978 company members.
• the vast majority of these companies are based in Edinburgh (55%) or Glasgow (26%).
• companies operating in the Health and Medicine sector have raised much of this investment (circa £50 million), followed but to a much lesser extent by Legal (circa £9 million), Energy, Climate and Sustainability (circa £6 million), and Data and Analytics (circa £5 million).
• funding/investment sources — the £118 million is made up of £105.25 million equity investment and £12.86 million grant funding.

However, it is not clear to what extent these impacts are fully or partially attributable to the programme.

Investor connectivity and internationalisation

CodeBase, via a range of collaborations and activities, has sought to facilitate and connect tech startups and scaleups including with industry investors (in Scotland and further afield) and with international ecosystems and funding opportunities. This has spanned a broad range of activities during 2023 and 2024 including those aimed at supporting founders to:

• showcase who they are and what they do.
• gain exposure to global best practice and to learn from others.
• build relationships and connections across the tech ecosystem.
• meet and connect with global investors.
• increase their exposure to international markets.

Some examples of international connectivity activity supported via the Techscaler Programme has included:

• hosting delegates from other countries in Scotland — for example, CodeBase hosted a delegation of representatives from Singapore in 2023 to give founders the opportunity to engage with Scotland’s Trade and Investment Envoy to Singapore.
• international pop up hubs.
• presenting and speaking at the global tech events and forums — for example, at the World Incubators Forum (Shanghai).
• attending leading startup and scaleup events and conferences in America, Asia, and Europe.

These activities have often been undertaken by CodeBase in partnership with Scottish Development International (SDI), enterprise agencies, Scottish Government, universities, to name a few examples.

This activity has been undertaken to help position tech startups and scaleups to compete more effectively on the global stage. CodeBase has done this through the delivery of international programmes that seek to engage with mature tech ecosystems like Silicon Valley and Singapore — the approach has been to help embed and integrate founders within these tech ecosystems for extended periods, see Table 3.3.

CodeBase’s international programmes have provided opportunities for each of cohort of Scotland-based founders, of which there have been three (to the end of 2024), to:

• work on their startups directly from these locations.
• broaden their ambition and mindset.
• foster meaningful connections with local networks, and meet investors, peers, and potential customers.
• implement key changes and share insights with their team on their return.

Table 3.3: Techscaler international programme

International programme	When	Where	Who
Techscaler — Silicon Valley (Cohort 1).	February 2024.	Participants spent up to one month in the San Francisco Bay Area based at Mindspace59 (a co–working space near San Francisco’s financial district).	Founders and CMOs from 12 companies.
Techscaler: Silicon Valley (Cohort 2).	26 August — 13 September 2024.	Participants attended hackathons, pivoted their products, built a lasting support network, and attended SaaStr60, to learn from the latest innovators on the impact of AI on the software–as–a–Service (SaaS) business model.	Founders from 13 companies. A focus on SaaS startups with a product in market, ARR of maximum £500,000, and no permanent US team member or office.
Techscaler: Singapore (in partnership with SDI).	21 October — 8 November 2024.	Participants were based at BLOCK71, a global ecosystem builder and startup incubator.	Founders from 12 companies. Participating startups belonged to industries spanning fintech, professional services, AI, hardware, medtech, and energytech/ sustainability.

Source: Techscaler Annual Report 2024. 35 unique companies involved.

Key investor activity

A wider summary of key investor activity up to December 2024 has included:

• investor roadshows which visited Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee during August 2023 — this featured five venture capitalists and was undertaken in partnership with Panache Ventures.
• broadening of investor network through one-to-one outreach.
• establishing virtual and in-person office hours with investors, for example, Maven Capital Partners.
• investors (for example, Archangels) regularly appearing on panels for First Steps and Next Steps.
• partnered with Foras for Sifted investor showcase in London in October 2024.
• fundraising accelerator which commenced in October 2024.
• featured in Praetura Investor Portal in November 2024.
• a roundtable discussion with Techstart Ventures in November 2024.
• prep work for first Ones to Watch in Q4 2024 (launched in January 2025).

3.8 Contract meetings

The Services Contract specifies that contract meetings will usually be held every two months and will be held at Scottish Government offices. It notes that occasions may arise where meetings will be held at the Service Provider’s (CodeBase’s) offices, and that any change to the location of a meeting will be communicated by the Scottish Government with as much notice as reasonably practicable.

The Services Contract specifies that the contract meetings will cover, among other topics:

• the most recently submitted performance report.
• the progression of the STER programme and the exploration of any challenges and opportunities.
• other standing agenda items such as sustainability, community benefits, fair work practices, and ethical considerations such as supply chain matters.

In practice, contract meetings are usually held at CodeBase offices or online — and there are additional touchpoints to what is specified in the Services Contract. This includes weekly check-ins, monthly contract meetings, and quarterly review meetings.

3.9 Financial overview

Context

The financial information presented in the following section was provided directly to the evaluation team by the Scottish Government. The summary format shown in Table 3.4 reflects the reporting arrangements agreed between the Scottish Government and CodeBase up to December 2024. While CodeBase maintains more detailed internal financial records for each cost centre, the evaluation team only received the information in the summary format provided by the Scottish Government. As evaluators, we would have welcomed access to a more granular financial breakdown; however, the summary-level data provided aligns with the formal reporting requirements in place during the period under review. It should be noted that reporting arrangements have since been revised and the 2025–2026 Delivery Plan introduces a more detailed financial breakdown by workstream, representing an improvement in transparency that should support more robust monitoring going forward.

Financial overview

CodeBase is required to submit invoices monthly in arrears to the Scottish Government for review and payment, and other documentation reasonably required to substantiate any invoice.

CodeBase provides details of the Techscaler Programme ‘financial outlook and variation proposals’ in its Quarterly Review reports to the Scottish Government, to inform discussions at the quarterly contract meetings.

The financial information presented in the Quarterly Review reports has typically been presented in summary form and at a high level, and covering the broad budget lines of:

• management fee (capital) — relates to office equipment required to deliver the programme.
• management fee (revenue) — contains professional fees, IT and subscriptions, marketing, travel and events.
• accommodation — relates to premises costs for hosting the Edinburgh Techscaler hub.
• education costs — includes activity such as licenses for programmes, event space, speaker costs and marketing.
• staff costs — covers all CodeBase staff and board time that is dedicated to the programme.

During 2023, CodeBase adjusted its financial reporting to be presented in financial years.

Row three, in Table 3.4 provides details about the re-profiled forecast to align with financial years. This was requested by the Scottish Government in 2023 as within the contract the annual budgets were provided to align with contract years (for example, November to November). However, this did not work with the Scottish Government’s systems and budgeting process.

Row four provides details on the actual spend incurred for each financial year to date. These totals have been broken down further to align with the five categories that are detailed in the contract and what is on the invoices, these can be found within Rows six to ten.

Table 3.4: Financial overview of the Techscaler Programme

Row	Spend category	Mobilisation (Jul–Nov 2022)	FY22–23 (Nov 22 – Mar 23)	FY23–24	FY24–25	FY25–26	FY26–27 (F)
2a	Planned spend (contract)	£1,847,380.00	–	–	–	–	–
3a	Reprofiled forecast (Dec 2023)	–	£2,185,319.00	£8,880,000.00	£9,514,857.60	£9,731,449.20	£10,226,449.20
4a	Actual spend	£1,847,343.93	£2,622,382.49	£8,890,838.72	£9,431,626.80	–	–
6a	Accommodation	–	£102,705.00	£298,512.59	£260,580.00	–	–
7a	Management fee (capital)	–	£2,446,795.33	£316,066.36	£13,126.80	–	–
8a	Management fee (revenue)	–	–	£1,467,211.47	£1,335,836.40	–	–
9a	Education	£71,816.00	£638,909.42	£972,855.00	–	–	–
10a	Staff	Included in Mgmt Fee	£6,170,138.84	£6,489,228.00	–	–	–

Note 1: Invoices and reporting categories changed partway through FY 2023/24 and therefore will be small variances where some costs would fall when broken down into categories. Note 2: The variance between Actual spend (FY 2022-2023) and the total of the breakdown for the same FY is the VAT. It is worth noting that the original financial figures that were included in the contract have VAT excluded. Future forecasts were VAT inclusive.

Key messages from Table 3.4 are outlined below.

A budget of circa £42.4 million (excluding VAT) has been provided by the Scottish Government to CodeBase for the Techscaler Programme for the five-year contract period.

A fixed fee of circa £1.8 million (excluding VAT) (4% of the total budget) was agreed for the mobilisation period and was not subject to variation. Payment was made to CodeBase in arrears once approved by Scottish Government, on successful completion of each stage. 100% expenditure was achieved over the mobilisation period.

The remainder of Scottish Government funding (circa £40.5 million excluding VAT) for the Techscaler Programme has been budgeted (and re-profiled) over the five years of the contract delivery period, and can be broken down as follows:

• circa £20.5 million (excluding VAT) or 49% of the total budget has been budgeted for the period November 2022 and March 2025 which aligns most closely to the scope of this early evaluation of the programme — this rises to circa £22.4 million excluding VAT (or 53% of the total budget) when the mobilisation period budget is included.
• circa £20 million or 47% of the total budget has been budgeted for the remainder of the contract period — that is, for the financial years 2025-2026 to 2026-2027.

By March 2025, approximately £22.8 million (excluding VAT) has been spent, representing 54% of the total budget. The Scottish Government is leading changes to financial reporting to strengthen contract management, improve transparency, and enable more detailed evaluation. Available breakdowns indicate that staff costs remain the largest expenditure, followed by the management fee.