Welcome to the latest edition of the DIGIT Deal Roundup.

As Q1 comes to an end, Scotland’s tech sector is seeing some big funding wins in medtech, biotech and the broader innovation economy.

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

Funding and Investments

Edinburgh Uni Spinout Wobble Genomics Secures £8.5M in Funding

Wobble Genomics, a spinout from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute with a novel approach to RNA sequencing, has raised £8.5m to help commercialise its technology.

The funding round was led by Mercia Ventures and BGF, and was backed by IQ Capital, EOS Advisors, and Old College Capital (OCC), the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment team. It brings the total amount raised by Wobble to over £10.5m.

The spinout has found a way to detect previously invisible ‘full-length’ RNA. The technology could have wide-ranging applications, from drug development and research to agriculture and ecology.

To read more, click here.

Nationwide & Virgin Money Strike £2.9BN Takeover Deal

The deal, which will eventually see the Virgin Money brand disappear gradually over six years, will also pave the way for the creation of one of the UK’s largest mortgage and savings groups.

Under the terms of the deal, Nationwide tabled a 220p-a-share approach for Virgin Money, which includes a planned 2p-per-share dividend payout. This offer represents a substantial 38% increase over Virgin Money’s closing share price on Wednesday.

The combined entity now boasts a market value of around £366.3bn, with total lending and advances reaching approximately £283.5bn.

To read more, click here.

Glasgow Smart Metering Systems Acquired for £1.3Bn

Glasgow-based Smart Metering Systems (SMS) has been taken over by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a US private equity firm, in a £1.3 billion deal.

With 62.78% of affirmative votes from SMS shareholders, the deal was declared unconditional, with SMS shareholders set to receive 955p each per share.

The deal was first announced in December by a newly-formed company owned by KKR-advised funds.

Click here to read more.

Glasgow Sees Multi Million Pound Boost to Innovation Economy

Glasgow City Region is seeing an influx of private investment into its local innovation economy, driven by an Innovation Accelerator programme. The initiative is spearheaded by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Science and Innovation (DSIT).

Selected as one of three high-potential innovation clusters to pilot the Innovation Accelerator programme, Glasgow City Region joined Greater Manchester and the West Midlands in this endeavour, receiving a third of £100 million allocated funding.

To read more, click here.

Staffscanner to Expand Following £960K Scottish Enterprise Investment

Staffscanner, the Glasgow-based tech company and staff provider, is aiming to triple in size following a grant award of almost £1 million from Scottish Enterprise.

The firm has developed a platform and recruitment solution for care homes and NHS Trusts, and will use the £960,000 grant towards a £5 million project to develop its technology and add 80 new jobs — taking its team from 40 to 120 employees.

Staffscanner provides a tool for both care providers and care workers to use, where employees can control their work pattern and book shifts, and employers can quickly assess skills and book staff.

Click here to read more.

Techscaler Reports £52M Investment in First Annual Report

Startup companies supported by the Scottish Government’s Techscaler programme attracted investment of more than £52 million in 2023, according to the project’s first Annual Report.

The initiative supported more than 500 companies in its first year and now has nearly 2,500 members.

Techscaler is delivered by tech incubator Codebase, launched to help fledging companies and entrepreneurs start and scale-up their businesses through education programmes, expert mentoring and a growing network of physical hubs.

To read more, click here.

Heriot-Watt Researcher Lands £2.5M for Laser Technology

The funding was given by the Royal Academy of Engineering chair in emerging technologies, and marks a milestone in the pursuit of innovations that have the potential to reshape industries like manufacturing and healthcare.

Professor Travers, director of the Laboratory of Ultrafast Physics and Optics at Heriot-Watt University, looks to harness wave formations discovered by Scottish civil engineer John Scott Russell in the Union Canal two centuries ago, repurposing them as light waves to generate ultrafast optical pulses with durations measured in attoseconds – a million billionth of a second.

Click here to read more.

My Smash Media Nears £500k in Investment

My SMASH Media, an AI matchmaking platform for the creative industries, is nearing half a million pounds of investment as it targets the fast-growing global content streaming market.

My SMASH Media matches content creators like script writers with buyers like the streaming services, production companies and broadcasters, using sector knowledge combined with AI matchmaking, to anticipate industry trends.

The company has secured over £370K investment from Scottish-based Equity Gap angel syndicate, Scottish Enterprise and a Future Economy Innovate UK grant. Equity Gap also facilitated the involvement of several investors from Investing Women Angels. The company will extend the fundraise to additional investors for a further 6 weeks (as of 25 March).

Scottish-based Ag-biotech Company Wins $1 Million Investment

UPL, a provider of holistic and sustainable agricultural solutions, and Radicle Growth, a company-building platform investing in early-stage agriculture and food technologies, have announced Glasgow-based SOLASTA Bio as the winner of ‘the Radicle Natural Plant Protection (NPP) Challenge by UPL’, securing a $1M (£796k) investment.

The Challenge sought to identify entrepreneurs advancing natural and biological solutions and saw applications from 237 startups.

SOLASTA Bio, an ag-biotech company specialising in the next-generation of green insecticides, was selected as the winner for developing nature-inspired, selectively targeted and sustainable peptide insect control products.

Renewables Firm Adds £195K to Local Community Pot

A South Lanarkshire community fund has been topped up by hundreds of thousands of pounds in 2023 from benefits generated by a nearby wind farm.

Last year, OnPath Energy, formerly known as Banks Renewables paid a total of £194,920 into the Kype Muir Community Partnership (KMCP) – a fund which was set up by the developer to distribute community benefits generated from its Kype Muir Wind Farm, to the
local area.

From the £195k pledged to the KMCP fund, £95,000 of that has already been distributed to local community groups and nearby initiatives across 2023.