Ross Stupart

A total of 1,367 new tech businesses were incorporated in Scotland last year, up from 1,124 in 2021.

Ross Stupart, office managing partner for RSM Edinburgh, said: “There are more than 850 high-growth tech businesses in Scotland with 38% of these headquartered here in Edinburgh.

“Scotland’s technology industry is supported by world-class universities, a highly skilled workforce, and a supportive business environment. The Scottish government has also appointed a chief entrepreneur - serial tech entrepreneur Mark Logan who conducted a review of the tech eco-system.

“This looked like it had all the hallmarks of a transformational move that could be the catalyst for accelerating the scaling of all these new tech businesses.

“The Logan review produced a series of recommendations aiming to accelerate the maturing of Scottish tech scaling businesses. So far only one of the specific recommendations has been implemented, with Codebase being awarded up to £42m to create tech scaler hubs across Scotland. Implementation of some of the other recommendations appears to have stalled.”

He added: “It has also been well publicised that there is a lack of diversity in the tech sector. The Logan review raised this, and it has been raised again recently in response to the Scottish Government’s Pathways report.

“Currently only 2p in every £1 invested in Scottish businesses is invested in female founded businesses, even though The Logan review notes that 20% of Scottish businesses are founded by women. An eco-system that permits this to happen is systemically broken and risks losing talent and value.”

Nationally, 46,474 tech businesses were incorporated in 2022, up from 38,240 in 2021. The total number of incorporations in 2022 is nearly double the 23,531 companies in 2020, demonstrating sustained growth in new tech incorporations year-on-year.

The data cements tech as an area of huge growth across the UK. All regions in the UK saw an increase compared to 2021, with London being home to the highest number of tech incorporations (24,783). Eight of the ten regions in the UK saw increases on or above 22%.