It’s Friday so it’s as good a time as any to have some good news.
Scotland now has its first $1 billion internet business in the form of Skyscanner. I remember being at a startup drinks event in Edinburgh around five or so years ago and hearing Gareth talking about his vision to achieve exactly this goal. And now it’s reality. It’s been incredible (and hugely inspiring) to see the growth of the business in the intervening years and a real testament to both the leadership and the vision within the business.
OK, this comes with the obvious caveat in that I worked with Skyscanner for a while so I may be slightly biased. But the reality is that what Gareth – and so many more – of them have achieved collectively is absolutely phenomenal. I would be dishing out the same praise whether I knew the team or not. But having seen the inside of the business only reinforces my belief that there is something very special going on within the business away from public perception of ‘simply’ being a travel aggregation site (I’m not the only one to have seen this by any means). I look forward to watching them continuing to grow.
I’ve written before about why Scotland’s such a great place to build a technology company. Edinburgh in particular leads the way, with a rich ecosystem of startups, Codebase (the UK’s largest tech incubator), the next edition of Silicon Milkroundabout landing next weekend, the Startedin group….the list goes on.
Skyscanner might be the first $1 billion internet business, it’s true. But now it’s time to build a few more.