10 years of Scottish EDGE: Round 20 sees a record £1.6 million of funding awarded to the best of Scotland’s entrepreneurial talent

The Scottish EDGE finals took place this week and it was a privilege to see the exciting and innovative entrepreneurs taking to the stage to pitch their business for the chance to win up to £100,000 of funding.

Harper Macleod has partnered with Scottish EDGE since its inception in 2012 and has seen hundreds of early stage businesses benefit from being awarded EDGE funding. Round 20 was no exception with a prize pot of £1.6 million on offer for the winners. The event was also a celebration of 10 years of Scottish EDGE with new categories of awards and additional funding being offered from a number of partner organisations, including Harper Macleod.

Over the two days of pitching, we saw a variety of different businesses across a number of sectors including, healthcare, technology, education, food and drink and retail – there really was something for everyone! There was one thing that all the entrepreneurs had in common: passion and dedication, which was clear to see in all of the pitches. With so many forward-thinking and innovative businesses demonstrating their drive and determination to succeed, the judges had some tough decisions to make.

Between the pitches, some of Scotland’s top entrepreneurs were on hand to give their top tips on going from start-up to scale-up and it was inspiring to hear about their business journeys. A notable highlight was the Go Business Radio Show where Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Willie Haughey shared insights into their successful business careers and offered some great advice to Scottish entrepreneurs during a Q&A session. We also heard from Chris van der Kuyl who sat down with Ewan Hunter, CEO of the Hunter Foundation to share the story of his hugely successful video game development company 4J Studios and his experiences in the technology, media, gaming and entertainment sectors.

As the pitching drew to a close, it was time for the winners to be announced. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon began the awards with a key note speech which included some inspiring words of encouragement for Scotland’s up and coming start-ups. She highlighted their crucial role in building a strong culture of enterprise across the country and the value of Scottish EDGE funding to the Scottish economy by enabling the development of high-growth businesses. The First Minister also highlighted the importance of female-led businesses and breaking down barriers for women in enterprise.

We saw 18 of the 25 businesses being awarded funding. These were some of the stand-out winning businesses:

• S’Wheat encapsulated modern sustainable business with their re-usable water bottles made entirely from plants. Not only did they have a great product, but they were also committed to planting a trackable and traceable tree for every bottle sold to help meet ESG goals. Jack and Amy were awarded the Net Zero Edge award and secured £100,000 of funding which will allow them to enhance their manufacturing resources to meet key demand and grow their business.
• Eco Cascade CIC is a female-led natural processing business serving the emerging seaweed industry in Scotland. Co-Founders Alison and Cait delivered an insightful pitch and received an industrial biotechnology EDGE award of £75,000.
• After previously appearing on Dragon’s Den, Paul Crawford pitched his business Beastly Brews, trading as Panther Milk, to the judges. Panther Milk is the world’s first vegan oat-milk based ready-to-drink cocktail. The panel were impressed with not only a great product, but also with the sustainable ingredients and packaging. Inspired by his time in Spain, Paul brought Panther Milk to Glasgow and successfully secured £75,000 of funding to strengthen his sales capability.
• There were a number of businesses in the healthcare and technology sectors who also secured funding. Microplate DX won an EDGE Award for their antibiotic susceptibility test to tackle anti-microbial resistance to assist them on their journey to investment. BioLiberty impressed with their robotic glove designed to assist with hand rehabilitation and secured £100,000 of funding which will go towards regulatory support, R&D materials and equipment, recruitment and developing a commercial strategy to help them launch in the US. A particularly inspiring and impactful business was GaitAR Ltd which has developed glasses to improve the lives of those whose mobility has been affected by Parkinson’s disease.
• Thistle Rocketry also impressed the judges with their satellite launch business. They secured £100,000 of funding to help their business take off.

As well as the Scottish EDGE winners, we saw a number of Young EDGE and Wild Card EDGE winners receive their awards. Our own Rachel Miele presented Harper Macleod top Young EDGE Award to Rachel from Frangipane Bakery. After her own experiences of struggling to find enjoyable gluten-free foods, Rachel set up a social enterprise selling gluten-free baked goods and was awarded £20,000 to further her business.

This year also saw the introduction of the Community EDGE award which was funded through a successful crowdfunding campaign and the first ever EDGE award to be decided by a vote. This award highlighted those businesses which are bringing benefits to the community by helping people and the planet. The well-deserving winner was Clarity Walk, a social enterprise with the aim of improving mental health through digital detox walks in the Scottish Highlands.

Innovation and entrepreneurship is renowned in Scotland and Scottish EDGE has played a pivotal role in this by providing all of the winners with financial resources, knowledge and support to enable them to flourish. Despite the current challenging economic environment, the EDGE finals demonstrated that Scotland is an exciting place to do business. All of the finalists were a great representation of Scotland’s up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth entrepreneurial talent. Congratulations to all the winners – we are excited to see these businesses grow.

If you met any of our team at Scottish Edge or you would like to speak with us then please get in touch. We are happy to discuss how we can be of service to your business.