Sustainable Ventures, in partnership with Barclays, is launching a new climate technology support programme, to address the sector-specific needs of Scotland’s start-ups and their founders.
Powering the Future, based in Glasgow, aims to fill a key business support gap in the Scottish climate tech economy. The programme will provide 30 SMEs with tailored support and help drive investment opportunities, backed by the Barclays Eagle Labs’ Ecosystem Partnership Programme – itself funded by UK Government – alongside delivery partners Glasgow City Innovation District and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
Those at all stages of development – from early idea stage through to mature venture, or scale-up, stage, will be considered.
These strands will contain support ranging from access to the unique Sustainable Ventures Spark platform, to dedicated 1:1 bespoke venture support. Spark features a curriculum that allows founders to access a bank of climate tech venture development tools, as well as an opportunity to connect with other SMEs and Sustainable Venture’s team of innovation experts.
Alongside this will be a series of events for all Powering the Future cohort members, including workshops focusing on investment readiness, value proposition and marketing. These will take place monthly for three consecutive months, starting in April and finishing in June.
The programme will culminate with a showcase event in Glasgow, where climate tech SMEs will have the opportunity to demonstrate learnings from the programme and pitch to relevant stakeholders across the Glasgow city region.
Garry Boyle, regional development associate for Scotland at Sustainable Ventures, commented: “Innovative technology offers huge potential in the fight against climate change and resource scarcity.
“Start-ups have the agility and risk tolerance to drive rapid commercial innovation, but find scaling notoriously challenging – just 40% survive the first three years.
“Climate tech start-ups face steep hurdles on the path to scale, often navigating capital-intensive infrastructure development, significant funding gaps and complex market adoption barriers.
“Sustainable Ventures exists to address these challenges, we are delighted to be working with Scottish and Glasgow climate tech entrepreneurs to provide them with the specialised resources and support to help their ventures successfully scale and deliver the solutions needed for a greener future.”
Stephen Brown, director of Barclays Eagle Labs, said: “Our government funded Ecosystem Partnership Programme enables us to allocate matched funding to organisations like Sustainable Ventures to help founders access the support they need to grow.
“We are proud to be able to support projects such as this, designed to help early-stage tech entrepreneurs – this ensures our ongoing commitment to the key sectors vital to the continued growth of local economies across the country.”
Find out more and express your interest for the programme here.
Source: Scottish Business Insider