Invest2Scale saw the Chief Entrepreneur, investors and scaling companies coming together to boost the Scottish ecosystem and identify opportunities for growth.

It’s the fourth year of the conference, and it retained the important mission of bringing together scale-ups and investors. The day was full of discussion, networking and insightful panel sessions – and thrilling messages of confidence and success.

Ana Stewart, in her opening remarks, laid out the rationale for her work as Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur. In post for five months so far, she’s identified needs for the ecosystem to better support starting and scaling businesses through flexibility. Innovation is championed, welcomed and recognised as a hallmark of entrepreneurship, so why is the support given in a rigid format that doesn’t mirror the fast-paced flexibility of Scotland’s start-ups?

She also announced the launch of the Scottish Ecosystem Platform, a new collaboratively-built database purpose-built to help and chart scaling activity.

The theme of support to encourage more scale-ups was core to the day. Federico Charosky, interviewed by Cazenove’s Bob Hair, has already spoken about the need to enhance Scotland’s support for scaling business. We’re a great place to do business, and great at getting start-ups off the ground – but after that, there’s a blockage.

The ingredients are there. The talent, the ideas, the support from start-up. But the blockage is there too: why can’t Scotland produce more big, scaling companies with such advantages? HSBC gave market insight to provide context. The amount of investment in London compared to the rest of the UK remains an issue, with investors in London and abroad not necessarily seeing the need to come to Scotland for opportunity. Meanwhile, the broader economic picture, according to HSBC Senior Economist Liz Martins, was a mixed bag. Yes, the UK has the fastest growing GDP in the G7. But not per capita – the UK is seeing growth that’s coming with population increases, not productivity. The good news is that we do VC well: the UK is still getting as much VC funding as France and Germany combined.

Answers and solutions came from panels of investors and scale-ups themselves. An AI showcase featured Speech Graphics, Malted.ai and Wordsmith, all thriving and growing internationally while making use of Scotland’s strengths and talents. The key to that growth is speed and nimbleness in the face of rapid development of the technology.

Read more on the tech sector in the deals market in the latest article published in the Autumn 2025 issue of The Business magazine, distributed with The Sunday Times Scotland.

AI raised its head in multiple sessions. It’s a key consideration for companies and investors alike: how you’re using it – or plan to use it – is a key component of future planning and the impact on your market is going to be a significant part of attracting investment and scaling.

Acquiring for scale saw a discussion about scaling through M&A. It’s a high-profile way to scale, but comes with its own set of challenges. Fran McIntyre of Innovate UK and Nick Dunn of Score Group talked with experience: how culture beats strategy, and how to adapt and be nimble to thrive.

An investor panel, chaired by CT’s Paul Mason, saw ideas from BGF, Scottish Equity Partners, HSBC Innovation Bank and the Scottish National Investment Bank. Always a popular session at Invest2Scale, the investors’ panel gives a rare opportunity for company founders to hear first-hand from a panel.

The panel said there is funding available despite the challenging market. But investors see lots of companies seeking investment: it takes something special to stand out and get the investment. That special thing is usually a blend of team, trust, strategy, and an absolute understanding of the numbers.

One of the key issues raised by the investors was the need for deep experience and a guiding hand from a credible board – and that was built on in another session focused on building a board.  It’s something that many businesses don’t have, or don’t think about. Investors can help and recommend non-executive directors – people who have been there before and can guide the scaling company when needed – but the question of the depth of talent in Scotland rose up. There are, it was said, fewer established non-execs in Scotland than in comparably-populated regions in England.

That might be a case of a vicious circle. With fewer businesses scaling to large size (and staying in Scotland to do so), there are fewer people with experience of it to help others.

Keith Neilson, CEO of Craneware, gave a superb case study on growing a business internationally from Scotland in his talk with MBM Commercial’s Stuart Hendry. It was a theme echoed by the conference closer, David Farquhar of TechTour, whose bouncing and enthusiastic message of people, opportunity and passion summed up the day. Culture and people are the key points, he said, and we have those. That’s what makes Scotland a great place to scale.

So ultimately, the day was about boldness and confidence. Having the tools and the passion to achieve, and the plans and preparation to build on solid foundations. Think trust and good people. Prepare early for scale. Get ready to be international. Use networks. And the support is there to scale.