As part of £15 million investment, at least £4m will be invested to expand the number of women entrepreneurs by providing tailored support at the earliest stages of business creation.

The initiative contributes to overall spending of £34.7m across entrepreneurship, innovation and social enterprise – a 50% increase on 2024/25. This includes continued investment in Techscaler, the Scottish Government’s flagship programme for tech start-ups. There will also be a new round of the Ecosystem Fund and a new fund to further develop clusters in sectors such as life sciences, digital and advanced manufacturing. 

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes visited Gut Wealth, an Edinburgh-based start-up, to discuss founder Gemma Stuart’s experience of starting a business. Gut Wealth was a recent winner at the Scottish Government-supported Scottish EDGE awards.

The Deputy First Minister said: “This Budget commitment demonstrates that the Scottish Government stands squarely behind this and future generations of business talent. I want everyone, from every walk of life, to feel encouraged and supported in taking the first steps on their entrepreneurial journey.

“A growing, thriving start-up ecosystem is vital to a strong and growing economy and I want to make Scotland the best place in the world for founders to launch and grow a start-up business.

“Taking a close steer from Ana Stewart and and Mark Logan’s report into encouraging more women start their own businesses, the Scottish Government and our partners are building an end-to-end support network to ensure entrepreneurs are helped at each stage of their journey. Gemma’s success story is one that we are can, must and will replicate.”  

Founder of Gut Wealth Gemma Stuart said: “I have big ambitions to help people suffering with digestive ill-health to live life a bit more freely from the pain and shame of gut troubles. I’m proud to be scaling my business in Scotland as part of the thriving ecosystem here.

“In the last two years, I’ve accessed vital guidance and support from Business Gateway, Scottish Enterprise, AccelerateHER, RBS Accelerator and most recently Scottish EDGE to help me scale.

“I’ve built a strong network of founders and I’m especially grateful for the other female founders who have helped educate me on raising funds and shared opportunities.”