4 ms·

Skyscanner is based in Edinburgh, with another large office in Glasgow. This is huge news for the Scottish tech scene, and will hopefully bring much needed cash

by stewhuk 10y ago

Skyscanner is based in Edinburgh, with another large office in Glasgow. This is huge news for the Scottish tech scene, and will hopefully bring much needed cash to help it thrive. There's a lot of interesting stuff happening here in all types of tech. Sadly Scotland's other unicorn, FanDuel, looks set to close its hq in Edinburgh after merging with draft kings. However, that will probably release a lot of talent to help smaller co's

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Finbarr 10y ago
Yes this really is phenomenal news for Scotland. Here's hoping they were generous with stock and we see a new wave of angel investors emerge. According to https://angel.co/skyscanner-2 https://angel.co/skyscanner-2 they last raised almost 200m at a 1.6b valuation. I wonder what kind of terms were attached to that. I'm guessing investors will have walked away with a pretty large chunk of the sale.
- tomhoward 10y ago
  The founders have already taken some money off the table and made some angel investments. I'm sure that will accelerate now.
- yla92 10y ago
  Through angel.co link, I realise that Sequoia Capital is major investor in them. I can't help but wonder how Sequoia Capital has a share in majority of exists/current "unicorn" companies.
  - tomhoward 10y ago
    Sequoia invested in Skyscanner after their earlier travel metasearch investment, Kayak, had been acquired by Priceline. I gather they observed that Skyscanner was positioning themselves to become a leader in the areas where Kayak wasn't, particularly in China, and felt that their investment could help Skyscanner win in those markets. Once again, it looks like Sequoia's judgement has been spot on.
dvdhnt 10y ago
> happening here Does that mean you're living there? I'm curious what the prospects are like there. There's been more discussion lately about us Americans looking for work abroad. My wife is finally on board with making a move out of the US as a family, so I'm glad it's being discussed more.
- pjc50 10y ago
  I love living in Edinburgh, but I will admit that its startup scene is kind of tiny. There's a decent number of IT multinationals about though. However, your biggest difficulty will be being an immigrant to the EU. These days it's a pretty damn arduous process.
- paulsutter 10y ago
  Prospects are good generally for technology talent. I'm in Tokyo now. Take a big chunk of vacation and visit several places that you have considered moving. Once you've visited and met other expats, you'll know what it's really like. The biggest barrier is your own decision.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    I did that a few times; talking to expats really gives a skewed (and to my taste usually ugly) view of a place. I rather befriend locals first and then go to meet them which we do now. Then you also get a nice perspective on expats from them which indeed usually is consistent with my views of them. This is a generalisation and obviously there are plenty exceptions, but it is rather unpleasant to sit with yet another someone who says "ye,yeyyeyeye,ye,ye,ye,ye" to all you say and then starts talking about their own enormously important company and/or life in a way too loud tone. Which is basically what I see the average expat do everywhere (besides the not listening to others, I was like that too). Again matter of taste and exceptions, just saying I do not find talking to expats giving you much or any info about a what a place 'is really like'.
    - mikhailfranco 10y ago
      It's true that expatriation seems to preferentially select arrogant self-obsessed alpha assholes, who are horribly smug about their allegedly adventurous success in crossing a line on a map, and can't stop bragging about it. It is often such a deliberate display, you can't help thinking they are secretly anxious, insecure and lonely. And frequently racist too.
ddeck 10y ago
Skyscanner is a fantastic service. I'm really hoping CTrip don't bring their dark patterns, spam, and generally scammy behavior to it. My experiences with Ctrip includes regular price revisions after booking (and after they ensure they have all of your personal information), added fees for "discount coupons" which can't be removed and are only included after they have your payment information, regular spam despite opting out, and various other deceptive behaviors. Unlike most booking engines, they often advertise firm prices for hotels, flights etc, but don't actually have confirmed inventory and often take days to confirm (or cancel or revise) the booking despite having taking your payment information already. This is only revealed after taking payment info. There are also reports of them illegally selling children's tickets as adult tickets and trying to sell tickets purchased via mileage. [1] [1] http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Flyers-left-in-lurch-over-Ctrip-ticketing-scam/shdaily.shtml http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Flyers-left-in-lu...
neximo64 10y ago
Not to pile onto nationalist sentiment but anything of this size is quite big for the British tech scene too. Heck European too. We don't have many unicorns on this side.

by stewhuk 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Finbarr 10y ago

Yes this really is phenomenal news for Scotland. Here's hoping they were generous with stock and we see a new wave of angel investors emerge. According to https://angel.co/skyscanner-2 https://angel.co/skyscanner-2 they last raised almost 200m at a 1.6b valuation. I wonder what kind of terms were attached to that. I'm guessing investors will have walked away with a pretty large chunk of the sale.

tomhoward 10y ago
The founders have already taken some money off the table and made some angel investments. I'm sure that will accelerate now.
yla92 10y ago
Through angel.co link, I realise that Sequoia Capital is major investor in them. I can't help but wonder how Sequoia Capital has a share in majority of exists/current "unicorn" companies.
- tomhoward 10y ago
  Sequoia invested in Skyscanner after their earlier travel metasearch investment, Kayak, had been acquired by Priceline. I gather they observed that Skyscanner was positioning themselves to become a leader in the areas where Kayak wasn't, particularly in China, and felt that their investment could help Skyscanner win in those markets. Once again, it looks like Sequoia's judgement has been spot on.

dvdhnt 10y ago

> happening here Does that mean you're living there? I'm curious what the prospects are like there. There's been more discussion lately about us Americans looking for work abroad. My wife is finally on board with making a move out of the US as a family, so I'm glad it's being discussed more.

pjc50 10y ago
I love living in Edinburgh, but I will admit that its startup scene is kind of tiny. There's a decent number of IT multinationals about though. However, your biggest difficulty will be being an immigrant to the EU. These days it's a pretty damn arduous process.
paulsutter 10y ago
Prospects are good generally for technology talent. I'm in Tokyo now. Take a big chunk of vacation and visit several places that you have considered moving. Once you've visited and met other expats, you'll know what it's really like. The biggest barrier is your own decision.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  I did that a few times; talking to expats really gives a skewed (and to my taste usually ugly) view of a place. I rather befriend locals first and then go to meet them which we do now. Then you also get a nice perspective on expats from them which indeed usually is consistent with my views of them. This is a generalisation and obviously there are plenty exceptions, but it is rather unpleasant to sit with yet another someone who says "ye,yeyyeyeye,ye,ye,ye,ye" to all you say and then starts talking about their own enormously important company and/or life in a way too loud tone. Which is basically what I see the average expat do everywhere (besides the not listening to others, I was like that too). Again matter of taste and exceptions, just saying I do not find talking to expats giving you much or any info about a what a place 'is really like'.
  - mikhailfranco 10y ago
    It's true that expatriation seems to preferentially select arrogant self-obsessed alpha assholes, who are horribly smug about their allegedly adventurous success in crossing a line on a map, and can't stop bragging about it. It is often such a deliberate display, you can't help thinking they are secretly anxious, insecure and lonely. And frequently racist too.

ddeck 10y ago

Skyscanner is a fantastic service. I'm really hoping CTrip don't bring their dark patterns, spam, and generally scammy behavior to it. My experiences with Ctrip includes regular price revisions after booking (and after they ensure they have all of your personal information), added fees for "discount coupons" which can't be removed and are only included after they have your payment information, regular spam despite opting out, and various other deceptive behaviors. Unlike most booking engines, they often advertise firm prices for hotels, flights etc, but don't actually have confirmed inventory and often take days to confirm (or cancel or revise) the booking despite having taking your payment information already. This is only revealed after taking payment info. There are also reports of them illegally selling children's tickets as adult tickets and trying to sell tickets purchased via mileage. [1] [1] http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Flyers-left-in-lurch-over-Ctrip-ticketing-scam/shdaily.shtml http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/society/Flyers-left-in-lu...

neximo64 10y ago

Not to pile onto nationalist sentiment but anything of this size is quite big for the British tech scene too. Heck European too. We don't have many unicorns on this side.