Welcome to the latest edition of the DIGIT Deal Roundup.

Last month, Scotland’s tech sector saw some big funding wins in fintech, decarbonisation, cleantech, and the broader innovation economy.

For a recap on those standout stories, here’s our round-up.

Funding and Investments

Edinburgh Laser Tech Firm Secures Over £1M in New Funding

Scottish laser technology firm Chromacity has secured over £1 million in new funding from existing investors Eos Advisory, Kelvin Capital, and Scottish Enterprise, as well the UK government.

The investment will mainly support the launch of the company’s latest ultrafast laser technology focussed on the healthcare market, while the funding from the UK government’s Innovate UK programme will also help to develop Chromacity’s tech for monitoring agricultural emissions.

To read more, click here.

Scots Golf Tech Firm, Shot Scope, Raises $8.5M in Funding

Golf technology firm, Shot Scope, has raised $8.5m (£6.6m) in a Series B funding round led by Guinness Ventures which invested $4m (£3.1m).

The funding round also included investment from key participants; Scottish Enterprise, Growthdeck, The SideBySide Partnership, and Edinburgh-based Equity Gap, alongside Virgin Money providing $1.9m (£1.5m) debt finance as part of the funding round.

To read more, click here.

Scottish Government Launches £8 Million CivTech 10 Challenge

The latest round of the Scottish Government CivTech programme invites companies and individuals to come up with innovations and products that will improve lives and practices across a wide range of public sector areas.

The tenth edition of the programme will provide entrepreneurs, startups, and companies the ability to work with public institutions to solve problems through collaborative technological innovations.

To read more, click here.

Scots Fintech Aveni Secures £11M Investment

AI fintech Aveni.ai has announced one of the largest Series A investments in a Scottish business this year, amounting to £11 million.

The investment is led by Puma Private Equity with participation from Par Equity and financial services industry leaders: Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide.

Aveni combines AI expertise with financial services experience, to create large language models (LLMs) and AI products designed specifically for the financial services industry (‘vertically aligned’).

To read more, click here.

£41.7 Million Put Towards Bus Decarbonisation in Scotland

The Scottish government is helping to financially back a new bus industry consortium which will deliver 252 new zero-emission buses and coaches to Scotland’s roads, it’s been announced today.

The £41.7m grant funding will support eight operators, led by electric vehicle (EV) fleet specialist Zenobē, to deliver the buses—alongside a Scotland-wide charging network for use by all buses, coaches, and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

To read more, click here.

New £5M Scots Facility to Combat Climate Change via Imaging Tech

A new £5 million Scottish facility aims to combat the adverse effects of climate change through high-speed imaging technology.

The project, developed with input from more than 100 academics and led by the University of Strathclyde, will use X-ray computed tomography (XCT) to help revolutionise the understanding of material behaviours.

The high-resolution technology will support research, from new ways of combating the effects of climate change, to reducing the carbon footprint of manufacturing, and from new battery technology to personalised medicines.

To read more, click here.

Scots Space Industry Boosted By £10.9 Million in Funding

Five Scottish projects have been provided with nearly £11 million in funding from the UK Space Agency, it was announced today at the opening of the Farnborough International Airshow.

The projects come from the National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP), designed to invest in high-potential technologies and help drive innovation and growth in the space sector across the UK.

Two Scottish projects will receive £8.5m of the total funding provided to UK companies. The first project is a suborbital rocket test by HyImpulse (Glasgow) from SaxaVord spaceport in Shetland; the second is a project led by Spire Global, which is further developing technology to supply unique weather forecasting data to global numerical weather predictions centres.

To read more, click here.

Scottish Government Launches £2.6M Business Support Programme

The Scottish Government has announced that up to £2.6 million is being invested in initiatives to make it easier for women and people from all backgrounds to start a business.

They include a pilot programme, launching initially in the South of Scotland, which will fund specialist enterprise coaches to provide a range of tailored advice and guidance to help individuals – particularly women and other under-represented groups – kick-start their business ideas.

To read more, click here.

£40m Hub Set to Anchor High-growth Spinouts in Dundee

The new £40m Hub, scheduled to open early next year, will anchor new high-growth spinout companies in Dundee.

The facility will provide laboratory and office space to spinouts from the University’s School of Life Sciences and spin-ins looking to partner with the university and benefit from the use of its facilities as they grow and scale.

It is set to be the centrepiece of the Tay Cities Biomedical Cluster project, to which the Scottish government has invested £25m as part of the Tay Cities Region Deal. This wider project is predicted to create around 800 new jobs and bring a financial benefit of more than £190m to the region by 2053.

To read more, click here.

Innova Nanojet Technologies Invests Almost £9M in New Scots Operations

Innova Nanojet Technologies (INJT) is investing almost £9 million in its new Scottish operations, with the technology firm choosing to locate its first manufacturing facility in Vale of Leven, West Dunbartonshire.

The company provides products based on ground-breaking nanojet platform technologies, capable of spraying trillions of supersonic and nanosized droplets to eliminate airborne contaminants and viruses using only water.

To read more, click here.

Scottish Enterprise Launches £35m Manufacturing Property Challenge

Scottish Enterprise is launching a new £35 million Manufacturing Property Challenge Programme to develop 1,000,000 sq. ft. of new industrial space, aiming to boost innovation and attract inward investment to Scotland.

The programme’s first call will allocate £15 million for developers, offering a combination of funding and support over five years.

As part of its refocused strategy for economic transformation, this is the economic development agency’s first targeted intervention. The full programme aims to create manufacturing accommodation equivalent to 14 football pitches and leverage £175 million of private sector investment into the economy.

To read more, click here.

Scots Fintech-for-media Platform Recast Secures $5M in Funding

Recast, the Edinburgh-based fintech-for-media platform, has announced the successful closing of a $5 million (£3.9m) funding round. The round was led by US-based venture capital firm Morpheus Ventures, with additional investments from Airstream Ventures and Cooley.

In its mission to provide consumers access to any digital content while ensuring fair and immediate value exchange for everyone involved, Recast’s technology helps to enable media owners to maximise distribution, monetisation, and 1st party data capture, thereby offsetting rising subscription fatigue and churn.

To read more, click here.

Acquisitions

Aberdeen-based Proserv Completes Management Buy-out

Led by chief executive Davis Larssen and chief financial officer Mark Fraser, the multi-million pound deal is backed by GIIL, a UK-based investment vehicle of Glenn Inniss, the founder and owner of the GII Finance Group.

For the past two years, GIIL has supported the financing of the business alongside investment funds and accounts managed by its existing shareholders Oaktree Capital Management and KKR.

As a result of the transaction, both Oaktree and KKR have exited their equity holdings in Proserv, with Piper Sandler serving as exclusive corporate finance advisor to the sellers.