Scottish EDGE Round 22 winners

After 140 days of competition, last night (29 November 2023) saw Scottish EDGE Round 22 reach its finale at the awards ceremony to celebrate the impressive businesses that entered this year. The 84 judges managed to decide on 38 winning businesses who shared £1.5m in investment funding.

The evening kicked off with Scottish EDGE’s new chair, Simon Hannah, taking to the stage. The community spirit of Scottish EDGE was clear to see from him welcoming everyone to bring ideas and feedback to the organisation so they can work to continually improve it, or as Simon put it:  “make EDGE, edgy”.

A big congratulations goes to all the winners and a special well done has to go to the Harper Macleod Young Edge winner Tabrifics who collected £15,000. Also, we were delighted to see Ujaama Spice pick up a Young EDGE award on the fourth attempt, testament to Scottish EDGE’s motto of: “its never a no, it’s just a not yet”.

Over our 10-year partnership with Scottish EDGE we have seen the pitches from each of the preceding 21 rounds. However, it is still amazing to see such a range of businesses. Where else do you get to enjoy seeing entrepreneurs pitch on everything from products to help women experiencing the menopause to a biotech startup which has developed gluten-degrading enzymes for the production of gluten-free bread made of wheat?

There has been an ever-growing sense with Scottish EDGE that the bar to win gets higher with each round and this year was no different. However, what was truly impressive was learning what the five-strong team Scottish EDGE has managed to deliver in the last 10 years – £23m of investment into 569 businesses which has created 369 jobs.

One of those previous winners, Mark Scott, CEO of Bella & Duke, also took to the stage last night, his message being that it’s all about people. Mark is an example of what Scottish EDGE can do to a business. After winning on his second attempt in 2017, Bella & Duke has gone from strength to strength and is now valued at north of £100m.

We were also reminded last night about the EDGE Pledge which is a mechanism for winners to give back to EDGE 1% of any money they receive on exit. The money from the Pledge all goes to help future EDGE entrepreneurs. Harper Macleod signed an the EDGE Pledge in 2018 in addition to our partnership arrangements.

This round, Harper Macleod is launching its mentorship scheme for winners of Scottish EDGE, a free programme designed to give growing companies many of the benefits of having an in-house general counsel to call upon, but without the cost. More information on our support packages for Scottish EDGE, Young EDGE and Wild Card EDGE winners and finalists is available here https://www.harpermacleod.co.uk/expertise/businesses-organisations/entrepreneurs-growth-investment-solicitors/scottish-edge-legal-packages/

Once again, congratulations to all the winners. Winning Scottish EDGE is a tremendous accolade which comes with cash and support.