The Glasgow City Council’s tech ecosystem platform, powered by Dealroom, is making waves as a gamechanger in the start-up and venture capital scene. The platform provides free access for organizations with a presence in or interest in Glasgow’s city region and the wider tech economy. Dealroom, an established global data platform for intelligence on businesses, is renowned for its expertise in start-ups, early-stage companies, and growth company ecosystems.
According to the recently published Glasgow City Region Ecosystem Report, there has been an eight percent growth in venture capital funding in Q2 2023 compared to the previous year, with start-ups raising £170 million during that period. Glasgow is defying the downward European trend for venture capital and ranks third among UK cities for VC investment, behind Manchester and Birmingham.
The Glasgow City Region Tech Ecosystem has seen an 89 percent rise in enterprise value since 2018, reaching £3.4 billion. Additionally, Glasgow-based universities have been featured twice in the UK’s top 20 for most spinouts.
Gavin Smyth, Tech Ecosystem Manager at Glasgow City Council, emphasizes the importance of highlighting and supporting high-growth companies in attracting investment and showcasing their success to a broader audience. He sees the platform as a means to promote Glasgow’s regional strengths and amplify the city’s tech story effectively.
Dealroom, founded in Amsterdam in 2013, is a globally recognized platform used by investors, entrepreneurs, and government organizations for transparency, analysis, and insights on venture capital activity. By providing real-time intelligence on start-ups, innovation, high-growth companies, and investment strategies, the platform facilitates data gathering, sharing, and analysis.
The Glasgow custom platform, being the UK’s first standalone regional example, is designed to support local government, academia, and public-private agencies. It benefits from Dealroom’s extensive coverage and depth of information, which sets it apart from other providers in the marketplace with limited coverage of the city.
Through curation and continuous data analysis, the Glasgow City Council aims to uncover insights about the city’s ecosystem and investment potential. The platform also operates as a self-service platform, allowing start-ups to create their own profiles and update them, building an engaged community around transparent data to accelerate innovation and enable better decision-making.
The Glasgow tech ecosystem is now entering a virtuous cycle, driven by catalysts such as Innovation Districts, Tech Scaler, and increased entrepreneurial focus from universities. This cycle creates more and stronger start-ups, which in turn fosters belief and strengthens the ecosystem’s experience base.
Overall, the Glasgow City Council’s tech ecosystem platform, in partnership with Dealroom, is serving as a catalyst for growth, investment, and entrepreneurship in the region, positioning Glasgow as a leading player in the tech industry.