The investments were dished out during the 22nd round of the Scottish EDGE awards, which took place in Glasgow for the first time since 2019 and was hosted by the Royal Bank of Scotland, and supported by The Hunter Foundation, the Scottish Government, and Scottish Enterprise.

“As businesses across Scotland find themselves facing challenging circumstances, there’s never been a more urgent need to drive creativity and innovation. The winners of the 22nd round of Scottish EDGE are testament to the incredible potential within Scotland’s startup landscape,” said  Evelyn McDonald, CEO of Scottish EDGE.

The event saw the unveiling of the £1000,000 Pathways Award backed by the Scottish Government, aimed at empowering female entrepreneurs, which went to a probiotic fermented sauerkraut company, Good Nude Food. 

A notable tech company that won funding was Connekt, the electric vehicle (EV) charging network startup out of Ayr which claimed £100,000. The startup is hoping to make the transition to EVs seamless by offering charging solutions at workplaces and destinations, to integrate charging with the lifestyles of drivers, while providing customer service on a local level with a privately owned public charging network. 

“As supporters of the Net Zero category, we’d like to extend special congratulations to Connekt Charging. Their work in creating an extensive and reliable charging network has the potential to be transformational,” said Judith Cruickshank, MD commercial mid market at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

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Other noteworthy wins were Prozymi Biolabs, a biotech startup revolutionising the gluten-free market, securing £65,000, and Claymore Surgical Ltd, developing a software platform to automate the diagnosis of childhood sleep apnoea winning £15,000. 

“Bold, brave and brilliant – those are the characteristics of Scottish EDGE winners. All the evidence points to Scotland needing far more of these businesses. EDGE is a brilliant supporter of high growth business and I’m sure could do a lot more for Scotland’s economy with the right Government support,” commented Sir Tom Hunter of the Hunter Foundation.