A total of 42 businesses from across Scotland have shared £1.6m in the 20th round of the Scottish EDGE Awards.
This round’s guest speakers featured First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, 4J Studios chair Chris Van Der Kuyl, and philanthropists Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Willie Haughey.
One of the biggest winners of the evening was Edinburgh-based Rival SC, a supply chain management platform for UK small businesses, which received a total of £100,000 in the award sponsored by Hunter.
The Net Zero EDGE category, launched last year with backing from the Royal Bank of Scotland to coincide with COP26, returned again this year, with Beira Moda awarded £50,000 for work to use discarded fabric from the luxury fashion industry.
Edinburgh-based S’Wheat also took home £100,000 for creating the world's first reusable bottle made from plants.
In the Young EDGE category - for entrepreneurs under the age of 30 - winners included Harper Macleod £20,000 award recipient The Frangipane Bakery, which is exclusively gluten-free, and clean tech start-up Zephyrus Aerolabs, which received £15,000 from an additional £75,000 Young EDGE funding pledged by Scottish Enterprise - bringing the total award amount for the category to £155,000 across 14 winners.
Wildcard EDGE winners - the category for pre-trading companies, sole-traders and partnerships - received £90,000 in total, including sustainable insulating fabric brand Ava Innes, which was awarded £20,000.
Ailsa Reliability Solutions received £60,000 as the winner of the Circular Economy Award, supported by Zero Waste Scotland, for its technology to eliminate unplanned downtime of client’s critical assets.
Another winner on the night was Meander Apparel, which bagged £70,000 plus £75,000 advertising spend through the STV supported STV Growth Award.
In the Social Enterprise category, supported by the Postcode Innovation Trust, KO-NEKT Childcare received £60,000 to support the development of skills centres specifically for young people with additional needs.
This year also marked the inauguration of the Community EDGE Award, which recognised the efforts of an enterprise which may have otherwise missed out. The award, arising from a crowdfunding campaign which raised a total value of £20,000, went to Inverness-based Clarity Walk by public vote.
Sturgeon said: “10 years after it started, Scottish EDGE is now the largest funding competition of its kind anywhere in the UK, and I am immensely proud of everyone who has played a part in its remarkable growth.
“Recovery from the pandemic and the current cost crisis we are facing has caused huge challenges across our business sector - but the innovative ways businesses have adapted and reacted has been remarkable. Scottish EDGE epitomises the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that we want to encourage, more widely, across our economy.”
Evelyn McDonald, chief executive of Scottish EDGE, added: “It has been humbling and rewarding to witness the continued creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience of Scottish entrepreneurship, despite the challenging circumstances we find ourselves in.
“At a time when collectivism and civic mindedness are more important than ever, innovation and enterprise remain the beating heart of economic growth in Scotland - running the awards for 20 consecutive rounds has not only been helpful to Scottish businesses but a privilege for our team who are able to learn something new every day.”
This round received 200 applications, with finalists pitching to judges on 6 and 7 December in front of a live audience.
This year’s Scottish EDGE winners (alphabetically) were:
- 532 Designs - Dundee - a design-led sports brand that brings value and enjoyment to players in an ethical and responsible manner - £10,000.
- Ailsa Reliability Solutions - Dundonald - using technology to eliminate unplanned downtime of client's critical assets - £60,000.
- Airspection - Perth - drone technology for inspecting offshore wind turbines - £10,000.
- Argyle IT & Education - Edinburgh - a blended learning platform to meet West African Higher Education needs - £50,000.
- Ava Innes - Elgin - helping people stay warm at home, using UK-made sustainable insulating fabric in clothing and bedding - £20,000.
- Beastly Brews t/a Panther Milk - Glasgow - the world’s first oat milk ready-to-drink cocktail - £75,000.
- Beira Moda - Juniper Green - crafts ethical limited edition womenswear from discarded high-end fabric - £50,000.
- BioLiberty - Dundee - a soft robotic glove and digital platform to help stroke survivors with remote rehabilitation - £100,000.
- Bliss Hot Tub Hire - Livingston - a hot tub rental service across Aberdeenshire - £10,000.
- Bobbll - Glasgow - gamifying job applications for entry level jobs aimed at Gen-Z - £10,000.
- Bounce OT - Stirling - activity-based occupational therapy support to children and adults with disabilities - £10,000.
- Bovine Dental Company - Biggar - developing a tool to support specialised dental treatment for cattle - £10,000.
- Curbar Lothian - Edinburgh - birding social media app Chiffchaff and a new bird identification device - £10,000.
- DeepQA - Edinburgh - uses artificial intelligence to automate the software testing process - £10,000.
- EcoCascade CIC - Glasgow - the first primary purposing company serving seaweed farmers - £75,000.
- Fleming Technologies - Glasgow - an automated robotic handler that precisely moves and mixes liquids for experiments - £10,000.
- GaitAR - Lossiemouth - developing mobility solutions for Parkinson's patients, in the form of Smart Glasses - £75,000.
- Gledfield Distilleries - Sutherland - developing Sutherland's first modern botanical spirit in a paper bottle - £10,000.
- Hoolr Education - Edinburgh - a technology company that helps organisations manage, scale and understand their coaching cultures - £60,000.
- Inclu - Edinburgh - a kettle that is safe and simple to use for elderly or disabled people - £10,000.
- Mask Logic - Edinburgh - designs bespoke, re-usable and scientifically-proven facemasks to healthcare and other sectors - £100,000.
- Meander Apparel - Edinburgh - an outdoor clothing brand making ethical garments for everyday adventures - £60,000.
- Measured Health - Edinburgh - helps hospitals treat 30% more patients by replacing face-to-face consultations with online self-completed patient assessments - £10,000.
- Mena - Perth - works with medicinal plants and culinary herbs to create products that relieve menopause symptoms and support better health - £10,000.
- Microplate Dx - Glasgow - specialises in antibiotic susceptibility testing diagnostics reducing antimicrobial resistance - £70,000.
- Orkney Cloth Company - Kirkwall - woven textile business making heritage, artisan scarves and blankets in limited collections - £10,000.
- Palaemon Maritime - Dunfermline - provides anti-piracy barriers on a rental basis for ships, costing less than razor wire - £70,000.
- PicSea - Edinburgh - an ocean digitisation provider that uses its swarms of underwater robots to collect data - £75,000.
- RIVAL SC - Edinburgh - a tech platform aiming to revolutionise supply chain management for SMEs - £100,0000.
- SENSEcity - Glasgow - developing an augmented reality viewing scope for heritage sites to enhance the visitor experience - £10,000.
- S'wheat – Edinburgh - the world's first reusable bottle made from plants - £100,000.
- The Habitat People - Inverurie - offers sustainability assessments and a unique carbon offsetting service through creation of wildflower meadows - £10,000.
- The Frangipane Bakery - Eyemouth - a gluten-free bakery dedicated to closing the disability-employment gap - £20,000.
- Thistle Rocketry - Galashiels - a space launch start-up currently developing scalable rocket systems for cube satellites - £100,000.
- Today Agency - Edinburgh - a student-driven media agency connecting businesses with creative local students - £60,000.
- QIoT - Glasgow - an internet of things healthcare company developing a platform alongside connected medical devices to monitor medication consumption of asthma and COPD patients - £10,000.
- Unbaggaged - Glasgow - an on-demand luggage storage platform that picks, stores and returns bags where and when needed - £40,000.
- Water Electronics - Glasgow - a solution that takes advantage of advancements in sensors and robotics for inspecting live water mains for leaks - £10,000.
- Your Spin - Edinburgh - uses technology to influence buying behaviours positively in hospitality venues - £10,000.
- Zephyrus Aerolabs - Aberdeen - a carbon-efficient drone that monitors greenhouse gas emissions directly from ships - £15,000.
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