A cohort of tech startups has today been announced by Tech Nation as the five Scottish Regional Winners of its fourth Rising Stars competition.

Rising Stars 4.0 is Britain’s only national early-stage tech scaleup competition. The virtual event has seen judges select five winners from each region.

The Scottish early-stage tech firms, which hail from Edinburgh and Glasgow – Scotland’s two largest tech hubs – are working to transform a range of different industries, including AI, cybersecurity, HRtech, proptech and fintech.

Digital talent platform Gigged.AI uses AI and technology that helps UK-based firms to accelerate digital projects by through access to useful talent. Rich Wilson is CEO and Founder.

Glasgow-based Know-it, founded by CEO Darcey Quigley, is a cloud-based credit management platform that helps to make the credit control process easier, as well as providing a litany of other financial services.

Edinburgh-based Kythera AI, founded by CEO and Lead Architect Matthew Jack, is a computer software middleware provider that specialises in tools for designing AI in 3D game engines including the Unreal Engine, Open 3D Engine and Unity.

The company said that its mission is to “improve the overall quality of the design and experience of AI in games and other simulations by pushing the boundaries of tech and producing improved solutions to the problems faced today”.

Letting Cloud – as the name implies – uses the cloud to help people search and let property. Started by CEO Grant MacCusker, the Edinburgh-based company’s platform aims to provide a better experience for users and match people and property in a “modern way with purpose.”

With its offices based in Edinburgh, PolyDigi Tech CEO Curtis Chan wants to protect the data and identities of companies and individuals with authentication solutions suitable for banking, payments and IoT services.

The firm’s solutions provide high security that is easy to integrate, implement and use while reducing the cost of protecting assets and identity.

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Commenting on the announcement, Esme Caulfield, Competitions Lead at Tech Nation, said: “With Tech Nation’s Rising Stars competition now in its fourth year, it’s amazing to see so many inspiring companies innovating to change our world for the better.

“This year, we reached the milestone of 1000 applications to Rising Stars (and surpassed it!). We had a record number of applications this year – 380 (nearly 400) – and we also saw our first applications – and our first Regional Winner – from the spacetech sector, (Elestial, from the Midlands) and agritech (Cropsafe, from Northern Ireland).

“From revolutionising modern healthcare and disrupting the finance sector to transforming education and tackling climate change, each of these fast-growing regional early-stage tech companies is helping us improve our economy, society and quality of life.”

Caulfield continued: “This year’s Regional Winners represent the brightest and the best of UK tech and talent, and I’m excited to see what they do next.

“I’m also really looking forward to seeing the new tech companies that emerge and scale across all areas of Scotland over the coming year, with the help of Scotland’s vibrant and supportive tech ecosystem,” she said.

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