Funding

Smplicare

Edinburgh-based startup Smplicare has secured £750,000 in funding to explore the use of wearable technologies to predict the risk of falls and other age-related health issues.

Provided by UKRI and a host of private investors, the funding will enable Smplicare to embark on one of the UK’s largest research projects involving AI, wearables and older adults.

As part of the study, 300 individuals over 55 years old with a history of falls will be given a mainstream wearable device, such as Fitbit, Garmin or Polar.

Using activity data from the wearable devices, Smplicare will create an AI-powered algorithm that can predict the likelihood of a future fall.

Garrett Sprague, CEO & Co-founder of Smplicare, commented: “People often say ‘older adults don’t use technology’. That’s just not true anymore. Technology spending for adults over 65 – including wearables – exploded during the pandemic, up 350% by some estimates. It’s not that older people don’t use technology – the reality is that they have a low tolerance for bad technology.

“By using everyday wearables and digital health devices we’re harnessing the data from devices people already have, to deliver actionable insights that promote wellbeing as we age.”

Interest in learning more? Read our full article.

IONATE

Edinburgh-based ‘deep tech’ energy startup, IONATE, has successfully raised £3.3 million in funding.

Supported by Edinburgh Innovations, the firm aims to resolve some of the key power quality issues associated with energy decarbonisation.

The startup’s patented technology helps boost reliability and productivity of connected assets, including renewable generators and battery storage.

The finance round included investment from the University of Edinburgh’s venture fund, Old College Capital, and was led by deep-tech investor IQ Capital.

Additional support was pledged by Smartworks, cleantech impact VC Cycle Group, and deep-tech climate investor Zero Carbon Capital.

IONATE said it will use the investment to scale operations and deliver its “pioneering” power flow control solution to electricity distribution grids, renewables generation projects and energy storage assets.

CEO Matthew Williams said: “IONATE has been very fortunate to enjoy the support and expertise of Edinburgh Innovations and the University’s School of Engineering.

“They have been key in our success of transforming the initial idea into fully functioning technology in less than three years, and I hope to work together for many years to come.”

For more, read our full article.

MiAlgae

Edinburgh-based biotech startup MiAlgae has received £2.3 million of investment as part of a fresh funding round.

The latest funding round was led by the Ascension-managed Conduit Impact Fund, which invested £900,000 while new investor SIS Ventures supplied £350,000.

The latest investment will support the company on the latest stage of its growth, including helping it complete a commercial demonstrator facility near Stirling. The new funding will also help MiAlgae further commercialise the production of other high-value compounds and pigments by expanding its biotech platform.

In addition, the investment will create ten new posts, including a head of engineering and commercial director.

MiAlgae Managing Director Douglas Martin commented: “It’s incredibly exciting to know that our investors see value in the biotechnology platform we’ve developed to tackle the production of omega-3 oils in a commercially viable way.

“Our process is championing the circular economy and the investment we have secured will be transformational in helping MiAlgae scale quickly both locally and abroad.

“Our commercial demonstrator plant, due to be completed early in 2023, will help us improve food security globally, while our research department continues to drive the development of exciting, commercially viable biotech innovations.”

Our full article has more.

Bruntwood SciTech

Bruntwood SciTech, a joint venture between investor and developer Bruntwood and Legal & General, has revealed plans to double its investment into Glasgow, totalling £60m.

The announcement comes three months after acquiring and announcing the redevelopment of their first digital and tech hub in Scotland, at Met Tower in the heart of the city’s innovation district.

The property and innovation services provider is to develop a new workspace of more than 100,000 sq ft adjacent to the Grade B listed Met Tower, adding a further £30m of investment to the new city centre tech and digital cluster.

The new building is intended to be carbon neutral throughout its shared spaces and has been designed with scaling and large tech and digital businesses in mind, offering leased space of up to 10,000 sq ft floorplates.

Pete Crowther, property director at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “The Scottish digital and tech sector is experiencing rapid growth and this £60m investment into Glasgow is testament to our long-term commitment.

“There is a real opportunity here to not only create a new tech cluster at Met Tower and in our new building but also support local businesses and communities across the West of Scotland. Above the physical spaces we are introducing, we’re also committed to creating opportunities for businesses across the UK so they can collaborate and innovate as the sector continues to thrive.

“We’re looking forward to sharing the plans for the new development in more detail and continuing to strengthen our network across Scotland.”

Find out more in our full article.

RAB-Microfluids

Scottish maritime tech firm RAB-Microfluids has raised £2.2 million in new equity funding.

The company has developed and patented a microfluidic “lab on a chip”, in a bid to radically improve oil lubrication analysis.

To drive growth, the firm is moving to larger premises at Aberdeen’s Energy Development Centre to kickstart manufacturing as well as for regulatory approvals. It is further creating eight new roles with the funding led by Par Equity and supported by existing investors, Eos Advisory, Newable Ventures and Scottish Enterprise.

Chief Executive Rotimi Alabi said the company is winning new business and is aiming to hit a £2m turnover by 2024. He said growth will be driven by a strengthened team of engineers, scientists and sales professionals.

“This is a huge moment for RAB-Microfluidics as we look to launch the technology and we must sincerely thank our investors for backing us and believing in our vision,” he said.

“The technology fills a big gap in the engine condition monitoring market. We’ll use the funding to catapult the business forward commercially with a stronger corporate, sales and marketing operation.

“We are actively looking to speak with ship owners worldwide. To raise awareness, we’ll be showcasing the technology at trade fairs globally starting at SMM in Hamburg in September.”

Read our full article for more.

Optima Partners

Optima Partners, an Edinburgh-headquartered data science and transformation consultancy, has raised £2.3 million in funding.

The investment round, led by BGF, will support the consultancy in scaling client services, further developing its SaaS solutions and expanding into new markets and sectors.

Optima Partners said it also plans to significantly expand its workforce from 44 employees to around 100.

Alan Crawley, CEO at Optima Partners, said: “We pride ourselves on the calibre of our people, and Optima Partners’ ability to convert that into innovative customer-focussed marketing and servicing solutions for our clients. BGF’s investment will help us scale our business, allowing us to serve more customers.

“Enhancing the application of advanced data sciences, alongside the practical application of AI and machine learning, are other key pillars in our growth and expansion plans.”

Find out more here.

SMART:SCOTLAND

Five startups founded by students and recent graduates from Edinburgh University have secured almost half-a-million pounds in grant funding awards between them.

The startups, all supported by the university’s commercialisation service, Edinburgh Innovations, have each been awarded around £100,000 through the SMART:SCOTLAND grant scheme.

Awarded by Scottish Enterprise to Scottish-based SMEs, the grants are offered to qualifying high-risk, highly ambitious projects with a commercial focus.

The grant recipients include bennu.ai, developers of the ‘world’s smartest bin’ which automatically sorts waste; cleantech startup Danu Robotics and BioLiberty, the creators of a soft robotic glove and digital therapy platform.

eMoodie, developers of a mental health digital platform, also secured funding through the scheme alongside audio design technology startup, Black Goblin Audio.

Lorna Baird, Student Enterprise Manager at Edinburgh Innovations, said: “We’re so pleased with the success of these emerging companies, all founded by University of Edinburgh students or graduates, in securing their grant awards from SMART:SCOTLAND.

“These startups are deserving of their significant funding awards as they are all focused on developing innovative solutions to some of the key challenges facing society.”

Our full story has more.

Acu-Flow

Innovate UK has chosen University of Glasgow spinout Acu-Flow as one of 17 projects to receive funds as part of the UK’s national innovation agency’s Biomedical Catalyst programme.

The Scottish medtech will receive £1 million in the hopes of advancing its nebuliser technology, which uses an innovative surface acoustic wave technique to deliver medicines into patients’ lungs.

Over the next two years, the Acu-Flow team – supported by partners at the University of Glasgow and the NIHR Devices for Dignity Med-tech Co-operative – will work to develop a fully-integrated nebuliser, ready to take to large-scale manufacture.

Nebu~Flow – the name of the team’s tech – is described as producing droplets from formulations within the clinical proven optimum range, capable of reaching patients’ lungs and maximising the treatment’s effectiveness, reducing the time required to deliver a dose, added the firm – which expects to use its nebuliser platform to deliver new nanomedicines and vaccines, including biologics, to patients.

Dr Elijah Nazarzadeh, Acu-Flow’s Chief Executive and a Co-founder, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this significant grant from Innovate UK, which will allow us to accelerate our research and development over the next two years, helping us to bring our innovative and potentially life-changing technology to market.”

If you want to know more, read our full story.

ePOS Hybrid

Hospitality tech startup ePOS Hybrid has raised almost £750,000 following a successful seed funding campaign.

The funding round, which marks the Edinburgh firm’s second in as many years, saw a total of 329 backers pledge £634,652 through the Crowdcube platform.

Much of the cash support came from repeat supporters and ePOS Hybrid’s existing network of backers. An additional £100,000 was pledged by an angel investor, the firm revealed.

ePOS Hybrid Founder Bhas Kalangi said: “The demand from investors for our second seed round has been overwhelming.

“We’ve attracted a lot of institutional investors who are looking to engage in negotiations despite the round being closed. The money raised will help us pave the way for a period of aggressive hyper-growth across our customer base, our revenues and also across our product innovation.”

Want to know more? Read our full story.

Cancer Innovation Challenge

Three organisations have received funding through the Cancer Innovation Challenge to support NHS Scotland to improve a patient’s cancer journey.

The three groups are London-based businesses Px HealthCare (Px), My Clinical Outcomes (MCO), and Edinburgh-headquartered Canon Medical Research Europe.

By helping these organisations develop and evaluate their solutions, the challenge aims to strengthen Scotland’s position as a world leading carer for people with cancer.

Canon Medical Research Europe’s project resulted in the development of a new artificial intelligence-driven cancer assessment tool using deep learning. The team created a prototype AI system able to automatically find and measure the rare cancer, Mesothelioma, on CT scans and to assess patients’ responses to treatments.

With funding from the Scottish Funding Council, the £1 million project was created to encourage collaboration between innovation centres, medical professionals, and cutting-edge healthcare businesses.

President of Canon Medical Research Europe Ken Sutherland said: “The Cancer Innovation Challenge provided us with a platform to showcase how we can use artificial intelligence to deliver an enhanced picture of how cancers present and the impact on patients.”

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Scottish Inward Investment Catalyst Fund

The Scottish Inward Investment Catalyst Fund has awarded a further £40,000 to strengthen ties between businesses based outside Scotland and Scottish universities.

Four companies, headquartered in the US, Finland and England, will collaborate with a range of Scottish universities with a view to establishing operations in Scotland. All of the collaborative projects will support a net zero, health and wellbeing economy with the principles of fair work and sustainable, inclusive growth.

Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee, launched the fund in December 2021 with a total of £100,000 over two rounds this year, aimed at attracting businesses to invest in Scotland by establishing research and development partnerships with universities.

He said: “Attracting businesses to invest in Scotland is a key driver of the Scottish Government’s long-term economic wellbeing and prosperity ambitions. EY’s Annual Attractiveness Survey 2022 showed Scotland has already established itself as the UK’s top performing region for attracting inward investment, outside of London.

“For Scotland to remain competitive in the current challenging climate, we need ongoing close collaboration between our higher education institutions and industry in areas of our academic strengths.”

Deals and Acquisitions

iomart

As part of its ‘acquisitive strategy’ Glasgow-based cloud computing company iomart has acquired the entire issued share capital of Concepta Capital in a deal that could rise to £14.5 million.

iomart will pay an initial cash consideration on completion of £10.5m, subject to potential completion accounts adjustments. In addition, a further £4m will be paid depending on the future profit performance of the Concepta business in the year ending 30 June 2023.

Concepta is currently carrying bank debt of £1.5m which iomart has taken on and settled as part of the completion process.

The initial consideration, debt settlement and any earn out consideration will be financed through a combination of existing bank facilities and cash on the company’s balance sheet.

The vendors of Concepta are the existing management team, with Chris Kiaie, CEO, having a majority stake. The acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings accretive for iomart.

Reece Donovan, CEO of iomart Group, commented: “We are delighted to welcome the Concepta team to iomart, marking the resumption of our M&A activity in line with our strategic plans.”

For more, read our full story.

Legado

Edinburgh-based company Legado has acquired consumer and B2B bill management technology from defunct company WonderBill.

Legado provides a legacy data and document sharing platform, allowing its customers to store and share documents and information online – from wills and policies to pin codes.

London-based WonderBill allowed consumers to manage all their household bills and subscriptions. The company was backed by Shell Ventures, Shell’s corporate venture capital arm.

After being wound down at the beginning of the year, Legado bought the company’s tech for an unknown sum from Shell Ventures, the venture capital arm of Shell and the previous owner of WonderBill.

Legado plans to repurpose WonderBill’s technology to support its own B2B personal data management and engagement platform.

CEO and Founder of Legado Josif Grace said: “WonderBill has invested significantly in its technology over the last few years. The integration of the consumer and B2B bill management technology into Legado’s platform will provide our corporate partners with a market-leading and compliant solution to manage, share, and access personal data in a way that is meaningful for customers.”

Our full story has more information.

Heart of Midlothian Football Club and StatsBomb

Heart of Midlothian Football Club has signed an agreement with StatsBomb to use its cutting-edge analytics platform and advanced football data.

The partnership sees Hearts become the latest SPFL team to utilise StatsBomb’s products to strengthen the club’s recruitment processes and player analysis capabilities.

Hearts will join 100+ professional clubs worldwide in using StatsBomb’s performance data to support the work of the team’s analysts, coaches and scouts. StatBomb’s data spec records over 3,400 events per game and features unique metrics, including Pass Footedness, Shot Impact Height, Pressures By Player and Team, and more.

As part of the agreement, the Scottish Premiership side will have access to the StatsBomb IQ platform, including the IQ Scout and IQ Tactics tools. The access will enable Hearts to visualise and analyse patterns in its opponents’ play and identify suitable players for their scouting and recruitment team from 70,000+ detailed player profiles across 100+ competitions.

Alex Taylor, Sales Executive, StatsBomb, said: “StatsBomb are delighted to welcome Hearts FC onboard. We look forward to helping them strengthen key club departments with advanced data and analytics ahead of their upcoming European and domestic campaigns.”