Glasgow Startups to Watch in 2027: Verified Companies in Space, Hydrogen, Biotech, AI and Climate Software
Glasgow has a small satellite industry that started here in 2005, two research universities that turn lab work into companies, and hospitals where drug developers run clinical trials. Those strengths explain the Glasgow startups worth watching: small satellite makers and launch brokers, a green hydrogen spin-out, drug developers, AI for cancer pathology, and software for property and recruitment. The 2026 version of this article listed ten companies. When we checked them, one could not be found anywhere, one is now part of a US education group, one went into administration, one is a large US betting company, one now redirects to another shop, and two are outside the city. For this 2027 edition we started again: in October 2026 we checked each company on its own website and on the UK company register (Companies House) to confirm that it still operates, that it is registered in Glasgow, what it sells and what it publishes about its funding. What happened to the old names is listed near the end.
Quick answer: the Glasgow startups and scale-ups to watch in 2027 are AAC Clyde Space (small satellites and space data), Alba Orbital (launches for tiny PocketQube satellites), Clyde Hydrogen Systems (green hydrogen from a University of Glasgow lab), Mironid (drugs for rare kidney disease), TileBio (AI that reads cancer pathology slides), arbnco (net-zero software for property owners), Odro (AI tools for recruiters) and BDD Pharma (drug delivery and early clinical trials). Mironid raised a $46 million Series B in August 2026, the largest round on this list. For support, start with Techscaler's Glasgow hub, Scottish EDGE, Converge and Scottish Enterprise.
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Why Glasgow Matters for Founders in 2027
Glasgow's startup scene grows from three places. The first is space: Clyde Space started building small satellites here in 2005, and the city now hosts satellite makers, launch brokers and suppliers around the Finnieston and Hillington areas. The second is its universities: the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde both run programmes that turn research into companies, and several companies on this list are registered at a university address. The third is life sciences: drug developers and clinical research companies work next to the city's hospitals, and some, such as BDD Pharma, run their clinical units inside one.
The city also sits inside a wider city region where some of the best-known names, from a rocket company to a coffee recycler, are based just outside the city boundary. For the wider picture, compare our guides to the best deep tech cities in Europe and the best countries for startups in Europe, and our city lists for Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Berlin.
Glasgow Startups to Watch in 2027 Compared
Sources: each company's official website or news page and its registered office on Companies House, checked 30 October 2026.
The Glasgow Startups to Watch in 2027
1. AAC Clyde Space: small satellites built in Glasgow
AAC Clyde Space makes small satellites and their parts, runs missions on its EPIC Link and EPIC View spacecraft platforms, and sells data from space, including Earth observation and maritime data. Its Glasgow company, Clyde Space Ltd, was set up in 2005 and is registered at Skypark on Finnieston Street; the group's headquarters is in Uppsala, Sweden, and its shares trade on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm under the ticker AAC. Its recent news shows a busy business: its Sedna-1 satellite started delivering maritime data in October 2025, Bonnier Capital became its largest shareholder in December 2025, its technology was chosen for Europe's EPS-Sterna weather satellites in March 2026, and it signed a contract for the INFLECION maritime intelligence programme in June 2026. Its own Earth observation constellation, VIREON, is next in line for launch.
Lesson for founders: Clyde Space started as a Glasgow parts maker and became the satellite arm of a listed group. A merger can give a small hardware company the capital and customers it needs, while the engineering stays where it started.
Best for: founders in space, satellite data and hardware who want to see how a Glasgow company scaled.
2. Alba Orbital: launches for satellites the size of a mug
Alba Orbital helps customers put PocketQubes, satellites only a few centimetres across, into orbit. It books rideshare launches through its AlbaPod deployers, offers its Unicorn-2 platform for hosted payloads, and sells test services such as vibration and thermal vacuum testing, plus a mobile ground station. It says it has launched 62 PocketQubes on 11 orbital missions, and its Night Lights night-time Earth imagery is in early access. The company was registered in 2012 and its office is at Hillington Park in Glasgow. It does not publish funding figures, so we cite none.
Lesson for founders: Alba Orbital made space cheaper by making the satellite smaller. If your market is priced out, look for the smallest version of the product that still does the job.
Best for: founders in space, universities and research teams that want an affordable first mission.
3. Clyde Hydrogen Systems: green hydrogen from a university lab
Clyde Hydrogen Systems is a University of Glasgow spin-out that builds systems for making green hydrogen. Its decoupled electrolysis design separates hydrogen and oxygen production, so the two can happen at different times, places or rates, and a liquid mediator stores the energy in between. The company says this produces hydrogen at more than 100 bar without mechanical compression, uses less water and can raise overall efficiency by up to 30%. It reported continuous hydrogen production in March 2025, and in January 2026 its first fully integrated prototype system produced hydrogen. It is registered at the University of Glasgow and does not publish its funding.
Lesson for founders: Clyde Hydrogen publishes each technical milestone as it reaches it. In deep tech, a clear record of proven steps is what convinces investors and industrial partners.
Best for: founders in hydrogen, energy storage and climate tech, and researchers planning a spin-out.
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4. Mironid: medicines for a rare kidney disease
Mironid is a clinical-stage drug developer working on small-molecule treatments for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and other rare kidney diseases. On 5 August 2026 it announced a $46 million Series B from Glasgow, with the Scottish National Investment Bank as a new investor alongside Roche Venture Fund, Epidarex Capital, Sofinnova Partners, BioGeneration Ventures and the University of Strathclyde. The money funds the clinical development of its LoAc small molecule, and on 1 October 2026 it said the first groups of participants had been dosed in its Phase 1 trial. Its registered office is in the University of Strathclyde's Arbuthnott Building on Cathedral Street, and its CEO is Neil Wilkie.
Lesson for founders: Mironid brought international biotech investors and Scotland's national investment bank into the same round. A local public investor can help a company attract larger funds from abroad.
Best for: founders in biotech and drug development, and anyone raising a large round from a Scottish base.
5. TileBio: AI that learns the language of tissue
TileBio builds AI foundation models for pathology: models that learn patterns in tissue images without human labels, for clinical diagnostics, biomarker discovery and drug target work. It says it trains on more than 1 million whole slide images and lists more than 5,000 NHS clinical validation cases, and it launched with a £1.6 million seed round. The company was registered in August 2025 at a University of Glasgow address. It does not name its investors on its site, so we leave them out.
Lesson for founders: TileBio's advantage is data: millions of pathology images and access to NHS cases. In AI, a hard-to-get dataset can matter more than the model itself.
Best for: founders in health AI and digital pathology, and researchers with access to clinical data.
6. arbnco: net-zero software for property owners
arbnco sells an AI-powered platform that helps real estate owners and managers reach net zero: it collects energy data, reports carbon, manages EPC risk and builds decarbonisation plans from calibrated energy models. Its UK office is at Inovo on George Street in Glasgow and it also has a US office in Plymouth, Michigan. Its homepage shows the logos of real estate investors and advisers such as PGIM, Nuveen, M&G Real Estate, JLL and Savills Investment Management. It was registered in 2012 and does not publish its funding.
Lesson for founders: arbnco sells to large property owners who must report their carbon. Regulation that forces companies to measure something creates a market for the software that measures it.
Best for: founders in climate software, proptech and B2B SaaS.
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7. Odro: AI tools for recruitment agencies
Odro is best known for video interviews and now sells a set of AI and automation tools for recruiters: AssistCV formats candidate CVs, Capture records video messages, Vision runs video interviews and Vantage helps with business development. Its office is on Portman Street in Glasgow, and it has been registered in Scotland since 2012. It does not publish funding figures.
Lesson for founders: Odro kept its customer, the recruitment agency, and added the next tool that customer needed. Growing with one customer group is often easier than finding a new one.
Best for: founders in HR tech and AI tools for service businesses.
8. BDD Pharma: drug delivery and trials inside a hospital
BDD Pharma, listed in the old article as Bio-Images Drug Delivery, was founded by scientists in 1999. It helps drug companies develop and test oral medicines: formulation work, including its OralogiK and CologiK technologies, manufacture of clinical trial supplies, Phase I trials and specialist studies such as gamma scintigraphy, which shows where a drug is released in the body. Its clinical site is inside Glasgow Royal Infirmary and its formulation site is at BioCity Scotland. It is listed in the portfolio of the Scottish angel group Archangels.
Lesson for founders: BDD Pharma has served drug companies for more than 25 years from one specialist skill. A narrow, hard-to-copy service can be a lasting business, not only a step to something bigger.
Best for: founders in pharma services, clinical research and life sciences.
Just Outside the City: Greater Glasgow Names
Several companies often called Glasgow startups are registered in the surrounding council areas. They are worth knowing, but they are not in the city itself:
- Skyrora: a UK rocket company registered in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, with a Glasgow postal address. In August 2025 it announced its first UK launch licence; the Civil Aviation Authority says it allows Skyrora to launch its suborbital Skylark L rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland. It also develops the larger Skyrora XL for small satellites.
- Revive Eco: on the old list. It turns spent coffee grounds into ingredients such as coffee oil for cosmetics and has launched its own skincare brand, Revived. It is registered at BioCity Scotland in Newhouse, North Lanarkshire, and exhibited at Glasgow Tech Week.
- ACS Clothing: on the old list. It runs resale, repair, reprocessing, rental and remake services for fashion brands, and is registered in Holytown, North Lanarkshire.
- EnteroBiotix: a microbiome drug developer at Strathclyde Business Park in Bellshill. It announced £19 million in April 2026 for its RISE Phase 2b trial in irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and dosed the first patient in July 2026.
Where Glasgow Startups Get Support
- Techscaler: the Scottish Government's startup programme, delivered by CodeBase. It is free to join (hub desk space costs extra), and its Glasgow and West hub is Glasgow Eagle Lab. It runs Techscaler Raise, a three-day programme to get founders ready for investors, and Catalyst, a 10-week hybrid accelerator for early tech founders.
- Scottish EDGE: a Glasgow-based funding competition that calls itself Scotland's biggest, with grants and loans from £10,000 to £150,000. The main Scottish EDGE award is up to £100,000 as a mix of grant and loan; Young EDGE (all directors under 30) and Wild Card EDGE (pre-trading companies and sole traders) offer grants of up to £15,000. Its EDGE28 live final is on 19 November in Edinburgh.
- Converge: a programme that helps staff, students and graduates of Scotland's universities turn research into businesses, run by Heriot-Watt University and set up in 2011. It runs challenges for general, net zero, space, hydrogen and other ideas; its 2026 awards gave 20 academic innovators from 12 universities a combined prize fund of more than £410,000.
- Scottish Enterprise: Scotland's economic development organisation. It offers grants and funding calls, help with raising investment, support for high-growth companies, export support and the GlobalScot business network.
- Strathclyde Inspire: the University of Strathclyde's accelerator for pre-seed founders, with 12 to 18 months of advice, funding for new propositions, training, a virtual board and co-working in the Glasgow City Innovation District. It takes people on a rolling basis.
- University of Glasgow: according to the university, its Glasgow Riverside Innovation District is a partnership with Glasgow City Council and Scottish Enterprise, and its Infinity G venture-building programme for deep tech ventures is delivered with the accelerator STAC at Skypark. Clyde Hydrogen Systems and TileBio are both registered at the university.
- Archangels: an Edinburgh-based angel group that has invested in early-stage Scottish technology and life science companies for 30 years; BDD Pharma is in its portfolio. It looks for disruptive technology with protectable intellectual property.
Glasgow Companies From the Old List That Changed or Could Not Be Verified
The 2026 version of this article listed ten companies. Here is what we found when we checked each one in October 2026:
- Kept: arbnco, Odro and Bio-Images Drug Delivery (now BDD Pharma) are still operating and registered in Glasgow.
- M Squared: the Glasgow laser and quantum technology company went into administration in August 2025, and its administrators sold its intellectual property and certain assets to a new company, Novacene Photonics, according to BusinessCloud. Its old web address now redirects to Novacene Photonics.
- Twig World: its site now says Twig Education is Imagine Learning Studios, after Imagine Learning bought it; it gives no Glasgow base, so we removed it.
- FanDuel: founded in Edinburgh in 2009, now headquartered in New York and owned by Flutter Entertainment, according to its own company story. It is neither a Glasgow company nor a startup.
- Houseology: its web address now redirects to the interiors shop Olivia's, and the Houseology company on the UK register is based in England.
- Revive Eco and ACS Clothing: real and operating, but registered in North Lanarkshire, so they moved to the Greater Glasgow section above.
- AI TechScot: we found no website, register entry or news report, so we removed it.
We also removed the old article's unsourced claim that £1.2 billion had been invested in Scottish startups in 2026, funding totals copied from third-party databases, and its links to third-party startup lists.
Which Glasgow Startup Should You Learn From?
- You build space hardware: study AAC Clyde Space for scaling, and Alba Orbital for making a smaller, cheaper product.
- You are turning research into a company: study Clyde Hydrogen Systems and TileBio, both registered at the University of Glasgow.
- You are raising a large biotech round: study Mironid and how it combined international funds with the Scottish National Investment Bank.
- You sell software to large companies: study arbnco, which sells carbon reporting to property investors.
- You build tools for one industry: study Odro, which kept adding products for recruitment agencies.
- You run a specialist service: study BDD Pharma, which has run trials from a Glasgow hospital since 1999.
- You are just starting: join Techscaler, enter Scottish EDGE or Converge, and talk to Scottish Enterprise once you have traction.
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How Founders Use Glasgow's Startup Scene
Notice where the money comes from: public money and grants at the start (Converge, Scottish EDGE, university funds), angel groups such as Archangels next, and then larger rounds that often include the Scottish National Investment Bank alongside funds from abroad. If you build technology in Glasgow, plan for all three. Compare investors in our guides to deep tech angel investors in Europe, UK angel syndicates for women investors and deep tech VCs in Europe, and look at programmes beyond Techscaler in our lists of deep tech incubators in Europe and startup incubators in Europe. Non-dilutive money helps too: see our lists of grants for early-stage startups in Europe and grants for female entrepreneurs in Europe.
Pitching for a prize is a good first test: Scottish EDGE and Converge are both competitions. Find more in our list of startup competitions in Europe, meet investors at the best startup events in the UK and the startup events in London, and if you are in life sciences, at the top biotech startup events. For recent funding news from the city, see our report on Glasgow healthtech startups receiving funding.
Before you copy any of these business models, validate your startup idea with real customers. Most Glasgow startups on this list sell far beyond Scotland, so they need to be easy to find online: list your startup in the F/MS marketing directories, publish your startup press release, and write about your product with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog so customers, investors and AI assistants can find you.
FAQ About Glasgow Startups to Watch in 2027
Which Glasgow startups should I watch in 2027?
Our verified list: AAC Clyde Space, Alba Orbital, Clyde Hydrogen Systems, Mironid, TileBio, arbnco, Odro and BDD Pharma. Each still operates and has its registered office in Glasgow, checked on its own site and on Companies House in October 2026.
Which Glasgow startup raised the most money recently?
Mironid, which announced a $46 million Series B on 5 August 2026 to take its rare kidney disease treatment through clinical trials. The Scottish National Investment Bank joined as a new investor alongside Roche Venture Fund, Epidarex Capital, Sofinnova Partners and BioGeneration Ventures.
Is Glasgow good for space startups?
Yes. AAC Clyde Space builds small satellites at Skypark, Alba Orbital arranges launches for PocketQube satellites from Hillington Park, and the rocket company Skyrora is registered in nearby Cumbernauld. Converge also runs a Space Challenge for university founders.
Are there climate tech startups in Glasgow?
Clyde Hydrogen Systems builds green hydrogen production systems, and arbnco sells net-zero software to property owners. Just outside the city, Revive Eco turns coffee waste into cosmetic ingredients and ACS Clothing runs circular fashion services.
Where can Glasgow startups get free support?
Techscaler is free to join and has its Glasgow hub at Glasgow Eagle Lab. Scottish Enterprise supports growing companies, and the University of Strathclyde's Strathclyde Inspire accelerator takes pre-seed founders on a rolling basis.
What is Scottish EDGE?
A Glasgow-based business funding competition offering grants and loans from £10,000 to £150,000. The main award is up to £100,000, and Young EDGE and Wild Card EDGE give grants of up to £15,000.
Where can Glasgow startups find angel investors?
Archangels, an Edinburgh-based angel group, has invested in early-stage Scottish tech and life science companies for 30 years and lists BDD Pharma in its portfolio. Our guide to deep tech angel investors in Europe lists more.
What happened to the startups on the old list?
arbnco, Odro and BDD Pharma stay. M Squared went into administration in 2025 (according to BusinessCloud), Twig World is now part of Imagine Learning, FanDuel is a New York company, Houseology's site redirects to another shop, Revive Eco and ACS Clothing are in North Lanarkshire, and we could not find AI TechScot.
What can founders learn from Glasgow startups?
Use the universities and public funding to start, build one hard-to-copy skill or dataset, publish proof of each milestone, and sell beyond Scotland early.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
