Startup Support In...Glasgow

by Startacus Admin

Away from the established startup hubs like London, the support for setting up a business isn’t always so clear. It’s not a lack of support, just a quieter ecosystem that takes a little more work to unearth. We want to help with this by highlighting what some cities, which might not spring immediately to mind at the mention of ‘startups’, have to offer.

Hot on the heels of our article on Startup Support Edinburgh is Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow!

The ‘Creative Clyde’ area of Glasgow, particularly, has started pulling in some top tech talent, and some say that the city is on its way to taking London’s mantle as the tech hub.

Co-Working space

One of the most important aspects of launching a business, or taking it forward post-bedroom desk, is an office to work from. Immediately launching into renting an office yourself is a surefire way to quickly find financial trouble. The solution is co-working space. Glasgow has some pretty interesting and unique spaces.

• Rookie Oven in Fairfield Shipyard boasts the most important thing a co-working space can have: a pool table. Also a museum, library, and custom-made desks to complement the events, meetups, and hackathons.

• The Whiskey Bond on the canal is a creative workspace that houses the likes of filmmakers, designers, architects, and photographers - as well as tech startups (tech hub, remember).

• SocietyM is not the typical co-working space, but it might be one of the coolest. Part of the CitizenM hotel, SocietyM is geared more towards meetings and brainstorming, and getting the creative juices flowing as much as the unlimited coffee.

• Glasgow Collective is a collaboration-minded co-working space home to all sorts of business from all sorts of sectors. It is 8000 sq ft of studios, workshops, boardrooms, and a communal area. And ping pong.

Finances

Getting started in business usually requires a cash injection, and a one place to start is Business Loans Scotland, a board member of which is a member of Glasgow City Council. This fund offers up to £100k to SMEs.

For angel investment, you need look no further than LINC Scotland, a network of Scottish angel investors, and Glasgow’s main angel network.

Maven Capital Partners is a Glasgow-based alternative asset manager that provides venture capital on behalf of its clients.

An arm of Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Investment Bank offers a range of funding and investment from seed up.

For science and healthcare startups, a name that will pop up again in the next section is BioCity. They offer co-investment opportunities to very early state businesses across the realm of Life Science and Healthcare Technologies.

The startup ecosystem and programmes

As with other respected universities, Glasgow Caledonian University offers an incubation space to help entrepreneurial students, graduates, and even staff with the help and support they need when building a business. Access to knowledge - something universities are good at - networks, and general support are vital to a budding business.

Tontine, in the heart of Glasgow’s Merchant City, is part of the £1.13 billion Glasgow City Region City Deal and is supported by the Glasgow City Council. Tontine supports businesses in the creative sectors to encourage collaboration, innovation, and growth.

The Royal Bank of Scotland offers Entrepreneur Accelerator hubs, including one in Glasgow. This accelerator offers two programs: an 8-week pre-accelerator and the 6-18 month accelerator programme itself.

To help entrepreneurs learn more about business, Just Enterprise puts on startup workshops, business development workshops and leadership programmes all over Scotland, including Glasgow.

For science and healthcare startups, BioCity is life science incubator that runs pre-accelerator and accelerator programmes at MediCity in Glasgow. The accelerator includes a £50k convertible loan, up to £50k of support for 12 months, and a subsequent place in the incubator.

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, but we hope it gives you a starting point when looking to begin or even move your startup journey. If you are a part of the Glasgow startup scene and you think you should be added in this this article, or you think we’ve just missed something obvious, email editorial@startacus.net and we’ll have a look...

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Published on: 14th August 2018