Glenn Crocker, chief executive of UK-based incubation centre BioCity, has called for Scotland’s life science startups to have “bigger aspirations”.
According to Mr Crocker, Scottish life science firms currently aim for £500k ($775k) to £1m, which he says means everything has to be done “on a shoestring”.
He said that Scottish firms “have to break the cycle” by looking to attract investment of up to £20m to attract talent and venture funding, such as the recent arrival in Scotland of Rock Spring Ventures which is setting up a £50m fund to support university and other startups.
Crocker added: “We shouldn’t spread funds too widely. Focusing on a few big winners is better. There’s always a danger of being too fair. Life isn’t fair, there are winners and losers. So unfortunately that means some businesses won’t get funded, but that’s OK, I think. Companies need bigger aspirations. They need to expect to raise £10m or £20m and not feel constrained by the current environment.
“It becomes self-fulfilling: if you’ve got a situation where you can raise £500,000 or £1m then you end up creating business plans that only need that amount.”
BioCity’s original base in Nottingham, founded in 2003, is considered the UK’s largest bioscience incubation centre, and principally works with the University of Nottingham and UK-based retail pharmacy firm Boots.
