The platform ePass aims to become the most successful Top GovTech Scaleup in Scotland after securing stellar first-year results. The startup previously won one of the largest CivTech challenges to date. Furthermore, the company reported £1m of revenue in its first twelve months. The team also deployed its tobacco and vape retailers register in 6 months.
CEO James Buchan and CTO Chris Renga founded the company in 2024. Today, the platform handles public sector licensing, registration, and permitting. The firm became one of the first private organisations on the Scottish Government’s cloud platform. Additionally, it will launch as the first live service on the ‘App for Scotland’ later this year.
“Scotland has had a licensing problem for decades. Licensing and registration are essential public services, but too often the underlying processes have been fragmented, paper-heavy, and difficult to manage consistently. ePass was created to reduce that friction, and we are now a core component of Scotland’s national digital infrastructure. We are now helping public bodies move towards a more reusable, consistent, and scalable model for licensing, permitting, and registration,” said James Buchan, Co-founder and CEO of ePass.
Scaling National Digital Infrastructure
The service currently operates across the Scottish Government as a core digital component. It serves all 32 local authorities and over 15,000 businesses. Management expects this business number to reach around 80,000 by next year.
The country recently announced ‘Scotland’s AI Strategy 2026-2031’. Buchan believes this Top GovTech Scaleup will assist with these new public sector goals.
“Responsible AI in public services will depend on the quality of the underlying data, workflows, and governance. That is where platforms such as ePass can play an important enabling role: creating structured, auditable service data from processes that have historically been fragmented or paper-based. What is really exciting for ePass is the scope for expansion, not only into other areas of the public sector, but beyond Scotland into UK-wide and international markets,” Buchan added.
The overall UK public sector holds an estimated value of £50 billion. Therefore, the executive sees massive growth opportunities outside of Scotland.
The company added senior personnel to its roster in 2026. Bjorn Gisbertz joined the firm as Director of Public Sector Strategy. Meanwhile, Aaron Drummond took the role of Growth Lead. Gisbertz brings deep experience from elected office, public administration, and digital transformation across Northern Europe. Drummond will actively direct the growth strategy in the UK and overseas.
Currently, ePass engages with venture capital and investor communities. The company will likely launch its first external fundraising round later this year. Finally, the business is hiring new engineering, delivery, and operational staff to support development.
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News Source: Businesswire.com
