Scottish EDGE has received additional funding of £1m from Scottish Enterprise to grow the competition which will, in turn, assist more high growth Scottish companies.
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Earlier this month, 62 shortlisted businesses pitched to panels of expert judges across the country as part of an intensive three-day long semi-final, over half of which have now been selected to pitch live at the Scottish EDGE Final next month. An additional day of pitching has been arranged following Scottish Enterprise’s funding input to accommodate the increased number of finalists.
39 businesses will now pitch for a share in Scottish EDGE’s increased prize pot of almost £2 million to a panel of judges chaired by Simon Hannah of Filshill and Kerry Sharp of the Scottish Investment Bank, Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm, at the Scottish EDGE Final on 5thand 6th December in Edinburgh.
The finalists are: Animation Garden; Araminta Campbell; Beringar; Bespoke Fabrics; Bounce Back Drinks; Boxergy; Captive; Cascade Water Products; Clean Water Wave; ClinSpec Diagnostics; CU Soar; Detailing Factory; Estendio; FreshMex; Good-Loop; Indomitable Leaders; InstaStock; Intelift; Kingdom Scotland; LiberEat; Miligen; Molke; Platinum Informatics; Pyramid WIFI; R3-IOT; RAB Microfluidics; Raven Controls; Revive Eco; Sensalytx; Sentinel Subsea; Spark and Rocket; Splatform; SussMyBike; Tenzor Geo; Teqnox; The Drinks Bakery; Tryit; Trojan Energy, and; Wootzano.
An evening awards ceremony will follow the second day of pitching at the final, during which around half of the finalists will be awarded a share of the £2m prize pot on offer, including prizes ranging up to £150,000 in the Scottish EDGE, Higgs EDGE, Creative EDGE and Social Enterprise EDGE award categories. Also announced at the awards ceremony will be the winners of Young EDGE, a sub-category of Scottish EDGE for entrepreneurs under the age of 30, and Wild Card EDGE for businesses who have yet to commence trading. Both offer awards of up to £15,000 in grant funding.
To date, Scottish EDGE, which is supported by the Royal Bank of Scotland, The Hunter Foundation and the Scottish Government, has awarded over £11 million to some of Scotland’s most innovative entrepreneurs, with a winner roster of over 300 businesses who in turn have generated £104m of additional turnover and created over 1300 jobs as well as raising £82.47m of additional investment.
2018 marks the thirteenth cohort since Scottish EDGE was launched in 2013, with past winners including TV Squared, Appointedd, Care Sourcer and Brewgooder.
David Shearer, Chairman of Scottish EDGE, commented:
“We have seen a marked increase in both the quality and number of potential scale-up businesses applying to Scottish EDGE. Our model of support has proven positive impact, something Scottish Enterprise has recognised by offering this additional funding support.
“While this enables us to double the number of winners we will only do so where the quality of the applicants meets our rigorous funding criteria. We remain resolutely committed to ensuring Scottish EDGE is both a sustainable business and a force for entrepreneurial good.”
Linda Hanna, Managing Director of Scottish Economic Development at Scottish Enterprise, said:
“Ambitious entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of every economy as they create and grow the businesses that sustain economic growth.
“Scottish EDGE’s excellent reputation attracts some of the most exciting Scottish entrepreneurial talent to pitch, and that’s why we’re collaborating with them and offering an additional £1 million in funding.
“With this funding, we can double the number of businesses Scottish EDGE supports and help drive Scotland’s future economic prosperity.”
Evelyn McDonald, CEO of Scottish EDGE said: “When launching this latest round of Scottish EDGE we gave it the title “Lucky 13” and that has certainly been the case. The calibre of businesses we’ve seen enter has been exceptional and the ever-increasing appetite we have observed for what we offer to Scotland’s innovative startups is very humbling.
“We are delighted and enormously grateful to Scottish Enterprise for their recognition of this with such an astounding gesture of support. The additional funding will allow us to say yes to worthy businesses we would not have been in the position to support otherwise.”
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