A total of 33 businesses with high growth potential have received just more than £1 million in funding after being named winners in the latest round of the Scottish EDGE Awards, with Edinburgh-based Touchlab scooping the biggest prize of £100,000.
Set up in 2018, Touchlab develops sensing technology to create an “electronic skin” that gives machines a human sense of touch. This allows them to better operate when handling delicate objects in difficult surroundings such as outer space or hazardous environments.
In Wildcard EDGE, the category for pre-trading companies, sole traders and partnerships, seven firms received a total of £75,000. A further eight firms whose directors with directors all under the age of 30 received £85,000 in the Young EDGE category.
READ MORE: Business Women Scotland Awards: The full list of this year's finalists
Today’s finals bring the total amount of money raised by early-stage high growth companies through 16 rounds of EDGE funding to approximately £16m. New this year, winners can also access further top-up loans to boost their award support.
The programme is supported by the Hunter Foundation, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. Entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter of the eponymous Hunter Foundation said he was “delighted” that Scottish Enterprise has stepped up by providing an additional £500,000 loan to be shared among the winners.
“To be clear, if Scotland is to rebuild, SMEs are fundamental to our chances of succeeding and as such I think business and Government must come together to extend and accelerate support for them through the likes of Scottish EDGE and the Logan Review,” he said.
The full list of winners as follows:
Bellfield Brewery
The UK’s first, exclusively gluten-free and vegan brewery - Edinburgh (£70,000, loan)
Brave Strong Beautiful (Community Interest Company)
Hairdressing and beauty salon offering employability services - Edinburgh (£50,000, Social Enterprise EDGE)
Craft Prospect Ltd
A space engineering practice utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies to improve satellite operations - Glasgow (£80,000)
Fresh Car Care
Mobile car care app helping subscribers manage their car cleaning and maintenance - Edinburgh (£25,000, STV Growth EDGE)
GoRoadie
A marketplace connecting learner drivers with qualified driving instructors – Dundee (£40,000)
IntelliPalp Dx
Biomedical engineering company developing devices for the early detection of prostate cancer - Edinburgh (£75,000)
Matugga Distillers Limited
An ambitious distillery producing an award-winning range of artisanal Scottish rum spirts - Livingston (£25,000)
MI:RNA Ltd
Offering revolutionary diagnostic testing that identifies heart disease in companion animals using a blood sample - Edinburgh (£45,000)
Ogi Bio
Start-up biotechnology company developing retrofittable devices to change the way that microbes are grown and managed - Edinburgh (£45,000)
Origin Peptides
Manufacturer of peptides, for research, cosmetic and pharmaceutical use - Edinburgh (£35,000)
Pillow Property Partners Ltd
International travel tech platform that matches holiday homeowners with quality guests from around the world - Dundonald, Ayrshire (£25,000)
Piseach, trading as Bubu Skincare
Creates unique skincare masks targeted globally at gen z/millennial customers - Alness, Highlands & Islands (£35,000)
Quosient, trading as Earth Blox
Earth observation data offering access to terabytes of space satellite - Edinburgh (£30,000)
Seawater Solutions
Social enterprise seeking sustainable farming practices which uses seawater to grow salt-tolerant crops - Glasgow (£25,000, Circular Economy EDGE)
Ten Bio Limited
Biotech spin-out company providing patent-pending human skin testing platform that closely mimics intact living skin - Dundee (£65,000)
Topolytics Ltd
An analytics platform which applies data science to make the world’s waste system more visible - Edinburgh (£45,000)
Touchlab
Uses cutting-edge electronic skin to build tele-operated robot avatars in outer space and hazardous environments - Edinburgh (£100,000, Higgs EDGE)
Utopi Limited
IoT enabled, smart building integrator to help businesses optimise space and performance - Glasgow (£30,000)
Wildcard EDGE winners:
Confidence Plus Ltd - £10,000
KelpCrofting - £10,000
Mygo4ward Ltd - £15,000
ReadSmart (Bright Page Technologies) - £10,000
Recycl8 Ltd - £10,000
Silver Lion Innovations - £10,000
SolarisKit Ltd - £10,000
Young EDGE winners:
Bare Bones Chocolate Ltd - £10,000
BioLiberty - £15,000
Crover Ltd - £10,000
Hoko Design Ltd - £10,000
Knit It (Creative EDGE) - £10,000
MacIsaac Ltd - £10,000
Pomelo Collective Ltd, trading as Reath - £10,000
Rafikï Coffee - £10,000
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