Hello Scotland! It’s good to be back!

Founders in Scotland can now get investment and be part of the Ignite network without having to relocate.

Originally published here.

Scotland has a great ecosystem for startups. Having started my previous business in Glasgow in 2015, I experienced this first hand. We were a mix of University of Glasgow and Strathclyde University students and got an incredible amount of support from both. Our starting point was Strathclyde’s Enterprise Pathway Challenge.

Glasgow University’s Enterprise Manager Marion Anderson then pointed us in the right directions and brought us in touch with the Scottish Institute for Enterprise. Participating in the Young Innovators Challenge (YIC) transformed our little idea into a real business concept. Winning the YIC provided us with enough funding to create the prototype of the app and start testing. Another key support for our startup was the Converge Challenge, Scottish EDGE, Enterprise Campus and the Entrepreneurial Spark in Glasgow.

Having received support from universities, competitions, and incubators, we decided that we needed more funding and more advice. This is how we ended up applying to Ignite, that back then was a programme based only in Newcastle. From there, things started getting really interesting for us.

What stood out for me in my time as founder in Scotland was the incredible founders I got to meet along the way. Scotland definitely has brilliant innovators and amazing businesses that should be supported and invested in as much as any startup in London.

Since my time there, the ecosystem in Scotland has developed further and so has Ignite.

Ashley Baxter from With Jack and Richard Allen from External Reality, two of our Scottish applicants, agree that there is still need for more support.

“Scotland’s startup scene still feels behind in terms of what’s available for support. I can attend an array of meet-ups and connect with other startup founders, but there isn’t really something that brings that community together with mentorship and investment opportunities. I’m excited Ignite is bringing this model to us. Hopefully we’ll see more successful startups emerge out of Scotland as a result.”—  Ashley Baxter (Founder  With Jack )

“Inverness is really still a city in name only, it’s more a small town. Whilst we have some agencies like Business Gateway and Highlands and Islands Enterprise helping out, it’s really lacking in a start-up network and support. Geographically, it’s not near anywhere in particular. Whilst transport links are improving, even Edinburgh is a 3 hour journey away. Ignite really caught my attention by offering the ability to be involved in a start-up community, and benefit from the accelerator program support, without having to relocate in what would be a huge way, unlike a traditional accelerator program.”—  Richard Allen (Founder  External Reality )

What can Ignite 2.0 offer Scottish Startups?

• pre-seed net investment of ￡25,000* in exchange for 6% equity share (5% to the investors and 1% to the Founders Co-operative)
• the option to participate without investment in exchange for 3% equity
• no need to relocate
• minimum of 6 months of support (mentoring, workshops, Startup MBA Webinars, introduction to investors etc.)
• You are eligible for benefits from some fantastic companies, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Digital Ocean, GitHub, SendGrid, Nexmo, Autopilot, Stripe and more.
• You get access to an incredible network of founders (Our team have accelerated more than 130 startups since 2011 and have a strong track record selecting and supporting promising companies, with our portfolio raising over ￡20m in 2016 alone.)

*The total investment is actually ￡40,000, of which ￡15,000 covers the cost of the programme — so each company ends up with ￡25,000 to spend. For those of you who are doing the maths, this means that we’re buying 5% for ￡40,000 — which is a post-money valuation of ￡800,000.

How does this work?

We work with startups remotely for three weeks of every month, delivering our Startup MBA course digitally alongside our programme mentors and partners. During the fourth week of every month, we come together to an in-person offsite in different cities around the UK. The offsites are packed with useful sessions, mentoring and events to connect portfolio companies, new investments and applicants.

You can find our FAQ here.

This month’s offsite is in lovely Edinburgh (Thanks Codebase for hosting ??). If you want to have the chance to join us there, apply until the end of this week.

Follow us on Twitter @igniteaccel for all the latest updates and stay tuned for more blog posts. Feel free to get in touch via e-mail: [email protected]