A record-breaking £1.5 million was invested in 42 businesses which became the latest recipients of funding from the Scottish EDGE pitching competition, including 11 businesses from across the Glasgow City Region.
Hundreds of high calibre applications were received by Scottish EDGE, the UK’s biggest funding competition for high growth potential businesses.
Scottish EDGE is supported by The Hunter Foundation, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise.
Keynotes speakers at the event included Sir Tom Hunter and Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, with opening remarks from Scottish EDGE chairman David Shearer.
Scottish Enterprise this year contributed an additional £75,000 to the Young EDGE initiative, enabling a further seven winners aged 18-30 to be supported.
Evelyn McDonald, chief executive at Scottish EDGE, said:
“It has been inspiring to see the talent and passion we have among start-ups in Scotland, which was demonstrated impressively through our latest funding round.
“It is a privilege for Scottish EDGE to support such exciting Scottish entrepreneurial talent and help companies and individuals access pivotal funding to accelerate their growth and development. This in turn helps drive forward Scotland’s future economic prosperity.”
Sir Tom Hunter, founder, The Hunter Foundation, added:
“Once again Scottish EDGE has proven the absolute need that quality businesses have for growth finance but as importantly the amazing wrap around support EDGE offers, the secret sauce if you will.
“These entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the Scottish economy and alongside scale-ups will be pivotal in providing the jobs and opportunities necessary for Scotland’s Covid recovery. Quality demand from businesses far outstripped supply so our development agencies need to step in and step up with more funding.”
The winners from Glasgow are:
Alice Sharp Ltd (£75,000) Glasgow – Online training to support those working in Early Learning and Childcare, Teachers and Parents
Crack Map Ltd (£40,000) – Glasgow –Developing innovative AI-based, non-contact technology, improving the quality of data analysis procedure for structural health monitoring, providing more reliable results only using available traditional data.
DARe-3D (£50,000) – Glasgow –DARe-3D were initially a complementary division of DARe-me, incorporated August 2021 DARe-3D Ltd offer UK wide drone services, B2B drone hire, sales and aerial stock.
Gigged (£40,000) – Glasgow – We have developed a Digital Talent Platform called GIGGED.AI which using innovative AI to allow gig workers to work on mission-critical digital projects remotely.
Hoko Design Ltd (£50,000) – Glasgow –Using a tech-focussed approach HOKO is striving for the perfect client experience. We provide quality architecture for homeowners, at scale, keeping the whole process in-house.
Know-It (Global) (£90,000) – Glasgow – The Know-it platform helps streamline the entire credit control process giving SMEs the ability to mitigate credit risk, increase cashflow and reduce debtor days.
Lupovis (£50,00) – Glasgow – Lupovis provisions cyber-security dynamic deception environments using artificial intelligence to maintain the attacker away from valuable assets by adjusting the strength of engagement.
Wildcard EDGE:
See Vac Ltd (£10,000) – Glasgow – See Vac is a multi functional dental suction tool that combines suction, flexibility and vision within the mouth.
Small99 (£10,000) – Glasgow – Small99 provides practical advice to guide and accelerate micro businesses to Net Zero. Our mission it to get 1 million to Net Zero by 2025.
Young EDGE:
Metacarpal Ltd (£15,000) – Glasgow – Metacarpal is a company focused on changing the prosthetic hand industry, by creating a hand that uses no electronics resulting in a more effective product. Winner of the top prize in the Young EDGE category.
Unbaggaged (£10,000) – Glasgow – Unbaggaged is the world’s first luggage concierge network connecting travellers wanting rid of bags with drivers who pick & return them where and when needed