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DIGIT Deal Roundup | November 2022
November was a busy month for investment deals in the Scottish digital technology sector.
Welcome to the latest edition of the DIGIT Deal Roundup column, featuring some of the top investment, acquisition and expansion news stories from November 2022.
Scotland’s digital technology sector saw a number of notable deals across the month, including a significant raise from Roslin Technologies.
Here are the latest deals for November 2022.
Investment & Acquisitions
Roslin Technologies
Edinburgh-based food and agritech firm Roslin Technologies has completed a Series A funding round led by Novo Holdings.
The £11 million investment will support the company’s next phase of growth as it aims to become a “leading provider” of animal cell lines to the emerging cultivated meat sector.
Ernst van Orsouw, CEO of Roslin Technologies, commented: “We are excited to welcome Novo Holdings and other investors on our journey to improve the food system.
“With the investment and strategic support, we can accelerate the development of better cells for the sector and focus on making our customers successful.”
QED Naval
Edinburgh-based tidal energy firm QED Naval secured than £1.5 million in funding.
The investment was raised as part of a Seedrs crowdfunding campaign which included 1,152 investors.
Additional funding was pledged by Kelvin Capital and Scottish Enterprise via the Scottish Co-Investment Fund.
According to QED Naval, the investment will enable the firm to fully deploy its ‘Subhub’ tidal platform at the Yarmouth Tidal Test Centre.
Sofant Technologies
Edinburgh-based radio technology innovator, Sofant Technologies, secured £4.2 million following a successful funding round in November.
Led by EMV Capital, the investment round saw additional support pledged by Scottish Enterprise, Kelvin Capital, the Future Fund and NetScientific.
The radio tech firm said it will use the investment to build a satellite communications terminal which targets mobile applications during the first half of 2023.
David Wither, CEO of Sofant Technologies, commented: “We are very pleased to have investors who understand the disruptive nature of Sofant’s technology.
“Sofant will use the proceeds from this investment round to build a satellite communications terminal which targets mobile applications, with commercial sales expected to begin later in the year.”
Hearing Diagnostics
Edinburgh-based healthtech firm, Hearing Diagnostics, plans to accelerate commercialisation in US markets after a £1.1m fundraise.
Led by Archangels, the investment round also included support from Scottish Enterprise through its Scottish Co-Investment Fund.
The firm said the funding boost will enable it to unlock its market potential and expand internationally.
Lynkeos Technology
Lynkeos Technology, a spin-out from the University of Glasgow which uses cosmic rays to create detailed 3D images of structures will share £700,000 in funding.
The firm was announced as one of 10 organisations to receive funding from the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
The firm won the support after a successful bid for the NDA’s Remote Monitoring of Sensitive Sites competition, which sought new ways to remotely collect data on assets, infrastructure, and the surrounding environment.
Fresh Car
Mobile car care startup Fresh Car has secured £500,000 in funding as the firm prepares to launch a ‘SMART repair’ business and acceleration expansion.
Led by Foresight Group, the investment followed an impressive period of growth for the startup, which has doubled headcount since the beginning of the year and expanded across the UK and Ireland.
On the back of the investment, Fresh Car said it will target a significant increase in franchises in London and the South East of England over the next twelve months.
LastingAsset
LastingAsset, a pioneering crypto asset security project led by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University, has secured £74,948 in funding from Scottish Enterprise.
Awarded as part of the organisation’s High Growth Spin Out Programme, the funding will allow the team at LastingAsset to build an initial proof of concept for their decentralised institutional custody solution.
The solution aims to help users securely store digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies or NFTs.
Wood Mackenzie
Energy analytics giant Wood Mackenzie was acquired in November in a deal worth $3.1 billion.
Tech investor Veritas Capital purchased the firm, which has a strong presence in Scotland, from its owner Verisk.
Long-term, the deal could also see Verisk secure an additional $200 million.
Verisk CEO Lee Shavel commented: “This transaction best positions Verisk to expand our role as a strategic data, analytics, and technology partner to the global insurance industry, and as a result, drive growth and returns that will create long-term shareholder value.”
Expansions
Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS)
Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) has announced plans to expand into Loveland, Colorado as it continues to scale North American operations.
The firm said the new site in Loveland will enable it to better support North American customers, which represent the firm’s fastest-growing market.
IGS chief executive David Farquhar commented: “The location of our North American headquarters is a pivotal decision in our evolution as market leader.
“We are confident that our new Loveland base will allow our rapidly growing business to continue to expand and thrive on a global platform, as we deliver vertical farming infrastructure to enable real farmers to grow an expanding range of crops reliably, profitably and sustainably.”
StretchSense
New Zealand technology firm StretchSense has announced plans to open its European headquarters in Edinburgh.
The expansion, which follows a £6.9 million investment round led by Par Equity, will see the firm open a new Centre of Excellence in AI and Spatial Computing.
StretchSense said the move will help expand its engineering capabilities to meet strong customer interest in its technology, which also includes industry-leading VR tools.
Blockchain Technology Hub
A new blockchain research hub is set to launch at the University of Edinburgh following a $4.5 million investment.
Input Output Global (IOG), the developers behind the blockchain Cardano, will fund the new blockchain technology hub as part of an ongoing partnership with the university.
The donation forms part of IOG’s academic programme, designed to foster continued research to set industry standards and best practices for emerging technologies.
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