One of Scotland鈥檚 most highly rated entrepreneurs says the country needs more unicorns to stem the exit of homegrown talent.
Mike Callachan is the founder of home delivery platform Snappy Shopper, which is allowing convenience stores and corner shops to take advantage of the growth in online grocery sales.
Around 拢150m worth of transactions pass through the platform every year and the Dundee startup is on a mission to grow that figure to a 拢1bn a year of annual platform sales.
鈥淭hat translates into a business that would be worth in the region of 拢1bn,鈥� said Callachan, which would give the business fabled unicorn status.
A report in 2021 found that Scotland had produced three unicorn companies – maverick beer maker BrewDog; fantasy sports platform聽FanDuel, now headquartered in the US; and travel comparison site and app Skyscanner.
Analysis by Dealroom.co and the Digital Economy Council identified four other Scottish 鈥榝uturecorns鈥�: Roslin Technologies and NuCana BioMed (Edinburgh), Interactive Investor (Glasgow) and Amphista Therapeutics (Motherwell).
Snappy Shopper is hoping to join that group and Callachan said the key was keeping talent in the country.
Speaking at last week鈥檚 Northern Tech Awards in Edinburgh, he said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that Scotland has a great history of innovation. If you look at Europe in particular we鈥檙e very proud of our education system.
鈥淚 went to St Andrew鈥檚 University and I believe that outranked both Cambridge and Oxford in a recent league table.
鈥淯ndoubtedly we鈥檝e got exceptional schools, education and emerging talent but the key is we need exciting Scottish companies to retain that talent to allow them to reach their full potential.
鈥淚f they go to Scandinavia, or Europe or the US to fulfil that ambition then Scottish companies will suffer.鈥�
Scotland has become one of the leading centres of the UK tech scene in recent years and Callachan said the expectation to become Scotland鈥檚 next unicorn was a 鈥榩ositive pressure鈥�.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a positive pressure but it鈥檚 mainly put on by ourselves,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he management team we have firmly believe in it.
鈥淲e put the customer at the heart of everything we do and ultimately by empowering local shops we鈥檙e pushing on an open door because people like supporting local.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to live in a world where there鈥檚 one shop called Amazon where you buy everything from it.
鈥淧eople like the idea of local shopkeepers and local high streets and we don鈥檛 want to see them follow the path of city centre high streets where huge retailers have disappeared.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a momentum and a purpose behind what we do but as part of that vision and mission statement it does say we want to get to a place where we do over a 拢1bn a year of annual platform sales.
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鈥淚t (the Scottish tech sector) definitely needs a halo brand because the proof is in the pudding ultimately.鈥�
Callachan founded Snappy Shopper in 2018 and three years later they raised 拢19.4m in investment.
He said the simplicity of the business model appeals to customers and investors alike.
鈥淚f you go to the fridge and there鈥檚 no milk you can order it on our app and it will be delivered in 30 minutes,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e the technology. We empower local high streets to offer home delivery services in the community that they operate.鈥�
鈥淲e call it 鈥榣ocal store to door鈥�. We believe in the circular economy. Spend money in a local stores and the money will stay in the local economy.鈥�
The average basket size is just under 拢30 and the entrepreneur said Covid changed people鈥檚 approach to home delivery and local shopping forever.
鈥淧eople were working more from home so were relying more from local shops and we think that鈥檚 a great thing,鈥� he said.