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Scotland is one of the biggest UK hubs for tech startups outside of London.
Skyscanner is a star, but the country's startup scene extends far beyond that. Scottish companies are launching famous games, and even creating biofuel from whisky byproducts.
We collected some of Scotland's top technology startups and ranked them by headcount, how much funding they've raised, and how exciting and original they are.
13. Twig
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Twig is an education company that creates digital learning materials (mostly in the form of short, three-minute videos) for seven to 16 year olds.
Twig World is free to state schools in Scotland thanks to a partnership with Education Scotland, but its materials are offered through a subscription service to the rest of the UK. It is also available to some schools in the US, Japan, Spain, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Australia, South Africa, Korea and Brazil.
Total amount raised: Unknown
Headcount: 50
12. Clear Returns
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According to Scottish startup Clear Returns, up to one-third of all online orders are returned, and processing them can be expensive. First-time buyers can also be seriously put off by an item that doesn't really match its online description, and might never shop with that retailer again.
Clear Returns uses data analytics to establish which products are consistently being sent back, and why. CEO Vicky Brock calls these "toxic items," as some of them raise the likelihood of a customer's entire order being returned.
Some customers are "serial returners" too, taking advantage of free returns to order products that they rarely keep.
British fashion retailer M&Co saved £415,000 after it stopped actively promoting the top 10% of frequently returned items, thanks to data provided by Clear Returns. The company partnered with IBM in July to use its big data and analytics to help out even more retailers.
Total amount raised: $134,260 (£86,878)
Headcount: 15
11. Administrate
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Administrate is a Scottish success story because it's doing particularly well outside its home market. Its software helps training companies and training departments manage their admin, deliver e-learning, and keep their websites up to date and take online bookings.
It doubled its staff last month after winning lots of overseas contracts with companies like Boston Whaler, Ag Leader, and NSF. Now, 50% of its revenue comes from overseas. Adminstrate says it has served over 2 million students, and other customers include PwC, Elsevier, Scania, Becker, and learndirect.
Total amount raised: $1.54 million (£997,000)
Headcount: 32
See the rest of the story at Business Insider