Between Edinburgh and Scotland scoring amongst the top third in every component in techUK’s Local Digital Index, the roll out of Logan Report recommendations such as Tech Scalers and a number of bumber investment deals, there’s reason for cheer as we reflect on Scottish tech investment for 2023.

While there’s no doubt that there’s work to be done at a more grass-roots level – the arguably increasing urban and rural divide and the sudden closure of CodeClan being two particular pain points, Scottish tech startups and SMEs continue to prove atttrative with regards to local and international investment.

In this feature, we’ll take a look at the biggest Scottish tech deals from each month (barring December).

January

Tech Nation and Barclays Eagle Labs 

The year kicked off with the news that Tech Nation would no longer be the recipient of the £12.09 million Digital Growth Grant after a six-year tenureship.

Barclays Eagle Labs has been awarded the grant intended to boost small and scaling tech businesses throughout the UK following an open competition and subsequent assessment by an independent panel.

Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Paul Scully, said: “We want to unlock the potential of the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups and boost tech businesses in all corners of the country.

“Barclays Eagle Labs are digital industry experts and will help tens of thousands of tech firms and founders to achieve their dreams and create jobs and economic growth.

Amanda Allan, Director of Barclays Eagle Labs, said: “Eagle Labs’ vision is to make the UK tech sector an engine for growth and for the UK to be the best place in the world to start and grow a tech business.”

In a response put out to media, Tech Nation stated that ‘in anticipation of the Government’s decision to award the Digital Growth Grant to another party, we have been working around the clock to secure our future and continue delivering for UK scaleups.’

Since then, Tech Nation has discontinued its operations. 

February

DirectID

Edinburgh-based fintech firm DirectID secured investment of nearly £8 million back in February from the Ingka Group, owner and operator of most IKEA stores.

With the funding, the Scottish firm is seeking to expand its credit risk offering into new markets, and advance the development of models for each stage of the credit lifecycle.

On the fintech’s cash injection, Peter van der Poel, Ingka Investments’ Managing Director, said: “We are pleased to have made this investment in DirectID and are confident of their continued growth in the open banking market.

“They have developed an innovative solution with the potential to complement and disrupt the traditional credit and risk market and help drive financial inclusion for more people. Open Banking-enabled credit and risk insights is an area we believe can add value to Ingka’s financial services proposition in the future.”

To read more, click here.

March

Phlo

Phlo, the UK digital pharmacy company headquartered in Glasgow, have closed a £10m Series A round led by family office Thairm Bio.

The funds will be used to expand the reach of Phlo Digital Pharmacy, the first UK digital pharmacy to offer patients same-day medication delivery, and to scale Phlo Connect, the digital infrastructure platform for healthcare providers.

To read more, click here.

April

Forrit

Forrit CEO Peter Proud said he was “incredibly proud” to work with another Scottish organisation to achieve Forrit’s ambitions.

Native cloud platform specialists Forrit will expand its operation after receiving scale up support from the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The £5 million funding will allow the Edinburgh-headquartered technology developer to expand its workforce and target new markets.

Forrit CEO, Peter Proud, said: “We’ve experienced enormous growth as a company since we launched almost a decade ago – building a brilliant team who have in turn created an extremely strong product.

Read the full story here.

May

IbisVision

Glasgow-based tech firm IbisVision has raised £4.5 million in growth funding as it seeks to launch into the US healthcare market to sell its remote eye test platform.

IbisVision’s refractive technology allows optometrists to run standard eye tests over the internet, and enables entire optical prescriptions to be conducted remotely.

Read more here.

June

xDesign

Edinburgh-headquartered digital consultancy agency xDesign has announced new funding and sees a new member join the board of directors.

The funding came in the form of an investment from Soho Square Capital LLP. The deal was agreed for an undisclosed, eight figure amount, with the Soho Square website claiming to have a target investment size of £15-40 million. Over 65 recipients have received an investment from the firm to date.

“To date, we’ve been a fiercely independent organisation, a fact that has enabled us to provide a truly award-winning experience for our clients and our talented team of people,” said xDesign CEO Euan Andrews.

The investment will also see Joe Tebbutt, the principal at Soho Square, join the company’s Board of Directors.

Read more here.

July

Administrate

Enterprise training operations platform Administrate has announced that it has raised £5 million from existing investors Archangels, Mercia, and the Scottish Investment Bank, and that it had welcomed Hambro Perks as a new capital partner.

Funds will be deployed to support the company’s growth and continue to meet the needs of its diverse and growing North American enterprise customer base.

The company, which was recently recognised as one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the UK by global tech and advisory firm GP Bullhound, provides a scheduling and logistics platform to help teams manage their complex global training operations.

The deal was led by Hambro Perks who specialise in supporting high-growth scale-up companies that focus on B2B SaaS.

“Backing Administrate was an easy decision,” said Usman Ali, Partner at Hambro Perks Growth Debt Fund.

August

Chemify Wins £36M in Funding to “Digitise Chemistry”

University of Glasgow spin-out Chemify has secured £36 million from a number of investors.

Chemify’s £36m funding came in part as a Series A led by US-based Triatomic Capital, with participation from venture firms in Hong Kong and the US, and Scottish investment first Eos. More funding came through the UK Government’s Innovation Accelerator programme.

“Chemify is building a company that can design, make, and discover complex molecules on demand using digital blueprints faster, more efficiently, and safely than is currently possible,” said CEO Lee Cronin.

“Our mission is to deliver better molecules for pharmaceutical and industrial partners in a fraction of the time and cost currently required.”

Read more here.

September

Continuum Industries Secures £8M+ in New Funding

Continuum Industries, the Edinburgh-based company behind Optioneer, an bAI-powered infrastructure development platform, has announced that it’s secured $10 million (£8.2m) in new funding.

The latest funding round supporting the firm and its platform was led by Singular, the venture capital company, with participation from previous investors such as Techstart Ventures, Credo, and Playfair, as well as angels including executives from SSE, Skyscanner, and UiPath.

The new batch of investment, which now brings the company’s total funding to $15.5m (£12.7m), is set to support Continuum Industries’ continued growth as it aims to double employee headcount and expand into new territories over the next 12 months.

“Having set out to raise a round in challenging economic conditions, we’re pleased to have found new investors in the shape of Singular – alongside our previous backers,” said Grzegorz Marecki, the firm’s co-founder and CEO.

Discover more here.

October

University of Glasgow

Backed by funding from the UK Government’s Innovation Accelerator programme, the project itself is a two-sided XR — a catch-all term for immersive technology including virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality — platform.

One part of the platform will enable people to access an array of museums, sites, objects, and dynamic experiences virtually. The second part of the platform will allow virtual curators to tell stories by combining 3D objects and environments.

The University of Glasgow said it will “empower online visitors to explore vast cultural assets in engaging new ways,” and “enable expert and novice curators to create new content.”

To read more, click here.

November

Mocean

Wave energy pioneer Mocean Energy has raised £2.2 million new equity alongside a £500,000 grant to drive the commercialisation of its wave energy technologies.

The equity funds come from existing investors including Equity Gap, Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s venture investment fund, alongside new shareholders Norwegian impact investors Katapult Ocean and MOL PLUS, the corporate venture capital arm of listed Japanese shipping conglomerate MOL.

In addition, Mocean has secured a £499,500 Low Carbon Manufacturing Challenge Fund grant, targeted specifically at the detailed design, build and testing of key subsystems for their small-scale Blue Star wave energy machine.

December

HyImpulse & Orbex

Shetland-based HyImpulse, a launch company working with SaxaVord Spaceport in Unst, and Forres-headquartered Orbex, a launch company working with Sutherland Spaceport, are set to receive around £6.7 million in funding between them.

Orbex will get over £3.3 million to undertake activities to ensure its work is environmentally sustainable. This includes installing a green propellant plant to manufacture a clean propane, produced from renewable feedstocks such as plant and vegetable waste material.

Sutherland Spaceport will be Orbex’s ‘long-term’ home, which aims to be the first carbon-neutral spaceport in the world, both in its construction and operation.