Bussiness
35 winners share Scottish EDGE’s £1.5 million prize pot
35 businesses are celebrating today after winning shares of a £1.5m prize pot at last night’s Scottish EDGE awards.
The 23rd ceremony returned to the Royal Bank of Scotland Conference Centre in Gogarburn, with winners hailing from across the country, from Orkney to the Borders.
This year saw the introduction of two new categories.
The inaugural £80,000 Scale EDGE Award, which is supported by RBS and includes access to a high-growth account manager and placement on one of Scale-Up Scotland’s growth programmes, was awarded to Edinburgh based Talonmore Drinks, a family-run business producing ginger-based alcohol alternatives.
Meanwhile, a new Creative EDGE Award, facilitated with support from Creative UK, gave a boost of £100,000 to Una Watch, which produces repairable-at-home, modular GPS sports watches.
Existing category, the Circular Economy Award, supported by Zero Waste Scotland, went to Evolve Metals, which secured £90,000 for its copper refinery, while Smart Gym CIC, which supports families through wellbeing services, won £75,000 in the Social Enterprise category, supported by the Postcode Innovation Trust.
The Young EDGE and Wild Card categories returned, with the former supporting companies whose managing directors are under 30, and the latter providing a grant to pre-trading businesses which need support to bring their products to market.
Winners of the Scottish EDGE supported Young EDGE award included Lairg-based Candles from the Croft, which won £10,000 for its vegan and cruelty-free luxury fragrances, while seven businesses were successful in the Wildcard Category, including West Linton-based Hulk Bio, which was awarded £15,000 towards its production of stem cell-based human milk for infants.
The STV supported award of £70,000 – plus £75,000 worth of ad airtime – went to Alloa fudge makers Ochil Fudge, while the women-led business StrEAT Events emerged as winner of the Scottish Government backed Pathways category, winning a £75,000 award for its online catering marketplace.
Evelyn McDonald, chief executive of Scottish EDGE, said: “It’s been an honour to help unlock the huge potential within the Scottish business landscape through the 23rd round of the Scottish EDGE.
“With the introduction of two new awards this year we’ve been able to dedicate more resources than ever to giving promising Scottish entrepreneurs a helping hand on their journeys.
“We would like to express our gratitude to all our partner organisations and supporters for their contribution towards helping our businesses to thrive.”
Sir Tom Hunter commented: “Scottish EDGE is a key driver of economic growth, a critical stepping stone for many scaling businesses and its refreshing that earlier this week our government recognised that with additional funds to support more entrepreneurs intent on building successful businesses.
“Their success builds Scotland’s success – nothing more needs said.”
List of winners (alphabetical):
Scottish EDGE
- Clean Carbon UK – £85,000 – West Lothian – A circular economy through carbon capture and utilisation that provides a reliable supply of CO2.
- Confidence Plus – £100,000 – East Kilbride – Created to contain leaks from stoma bags to allow the wearer time to get to a toilet without soiling clothing/bedding.
- Evolve Metals – £90,000 – Circular (Zero Waste Scotland) – Edinburgh – Patented technology developed with the University of Strathclyde to refine copper directly from scrap.
- Looper Tech – £70,000 – Edinburgh – Life Cycle Assessment software that helps manufacturers generate product climate certifications in one place.
- Naked Kimchi & Co – £65,000 – Glasgow – Fermented food and beverages designed to promote gut health.
- Noost – £70,000 – Lochinver – Northern Highlands knitwear.
- Ochil Fudge – £70,000 plus £75,000 worth of Ad Spend – Alloa – STV – Authentic homemade fudge.
- Optimum Business Growth – £60,000 – Glasgow – Bid Journey model helping clients win over £800m of contracts since 2020.
- Smart Gym CIC – £75,000 – Glasgow – Social Enterprise (Postcode Innovation Trust) – A social enterprise that supports families through affordable wellbeing services.
- StrEAT Events t/a AndMunch – £75,000 – Glasgow – Pathways (ScotGov) – An online catering marketplace for discovering and booking food trucks and mobile bars for events.
- Tailored Spirits – £100,000 – Edinburgh – Helping to coordinate every aspect of a whisky cask’s journey from barrel to bottle.
- Talonmore Drinks – £80,000 – Edinburgh – Scale Up (RBS) – A ginger-based alcohol alternative, that replicates a dark spirit experience.
- Tax Torch – £75,000 – Hamilton – A platform leveraging AI to offer personalised, real-time and future tax planning.
- The Ink Balm Co – £50,000 – Alloa – A vegan, eco-packaged tattoo aftercare product.
- Una Watch – £100,000 – Edinburgh – (Creative UK) – A modular, repairable GPS running watch.
- Whitebox Dental – £100,000 – Glasgow – Orthodontic appliance manufacturer.
Young EDGE
- AMJ Tech Consultants – £15,000 – Edinburgh – An export tool and API builder application for no-code databases.
- Candles from the Croft – £10,000 – By Lairg – Vegan-friendly and cruelty-free hand-poured home fragrances.
- Cykelworx Design – £10,000 – Westhill – A new bicycle roof carrier with built-in assistance.
- GRPZ – £10,000 – Westhill – A sportswear brand that specialises in anti-slip socks.
- Harlyy – £10,000 – Glasgow – A software-as-a-service platform that provides restaurants across Scotland and Pakistan with an automated customer feedback and marketing analytics.
- LifeRites – £10,000 – Glasgow – Digital resources for those with terminally ill loved ones, helping them to have a good death.
- Maria Elizabeth – £10,000 – Paisley – A Scottish based wedding and event design studio that offers fine art stationery, styling, calligraphy workshops, brand artistry and storytelling.
- MedSnapp – £10,000 – Glasgow – A medical education platform for medical students, allowing them to learn medicine through diagnosing and treating patients inside a game.
- Moonshine Candle Co – £15,000 – Kirkwall – Hand poured fragrance products.
- Mude – £10,000 – Edinburgh – An adaptive brand of clothing for people whose health depends on wearing medical devices, currently focussed on solutions for insulin pump users.
- New Found Hope – £10,000 – Dunfermline – An adaptive children’s brand providing therapeutic footwear solutions to address the issue of toe-walking in neurodivergent kids.
- NUYRO – £10,000 – Glasgow – Development and sale of advanced nutraceutical formulation for retail audience in the UK.
Wild Card EDGE
- 55th Parallel Coffee – £10,000 – Edinburgh – A small batch coffee roastery, selling to cafes and restaurants.
- AllArmed – £10,000 – Glasgow – Novel personal protection devices.
- FourFourFive – £10,000 – Edinburgh – A software solution that enables a more timely and accurate solution for accountants to prepare monthly business financials.
- Hulk Bio – £15,000 – West Linton – Stem-cell based human milk, for when breastfeeding isn’t possible.
- ProCedure VR – £10,000 – Dunfermline – Creating virtual reality training software libraries to support the immersive learning of surgical procedures.
- TinyGyms – £10,000 – Newport on Tay – Private exercise spaces for people who feel intimidated by traditional public gyms.
- TiroBio – £10,000 – Dundee – Aiming to discover novel natural products such as enzymes and medicines from DNA microbiomes.
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