FanDuel the big winner at DigiTech awards

The cream of Scotland’s digital technology companies attended the sold-out event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on 18 June, which celebrated the continuing success of the sector.

The big winner on the night was FanDuel, which scooped four awards including the much-coveted Digital Technology Business of the Year gong, beating off competition from Edge Testing Solutions, Kotikan and Cooper Software to do so.

FanDuel was recognised for its exponential growth and success since starting in 2009. The Edinburgh-based online fantasy sports technology business, which trades largely in North America, now has 225 employees in Scotland and the US. FanDuel also took the prize for Best B2C Technology Product/Service and Investment Deal of the Year, and was joint winner in the Outstanding Marketing Performance by a Tech Company on the night.

The awards celebrated companies achieving global reach with the launch of International Technology Star category. The award, which recognises outstanding market performance, went to Edinburgh success story Skyscanner. Indicative of this stellar growth is its Skyscanner app – since its release in 2011, this has been downloaded more than 20 million times.

Linlithgow-based telecoms software specialists Calnex, winner of the international growth award in 2014, won the newly-introduced award for Best B2B Technology Product/Service this year. This new award, which was sponsored by business analysts Be-Positive, proved to be the most popular category for entrants with Edge Testing Solutions and Speech Graphics also making it onto the shortlist along with the winner.

FreeAgent, the small business accounting software specialist, was joint winner with FanDuel and both took the Outstanding Marketing Performance by a Tech Company award. Freeagent had previously been winner of the Digital Technology Company of the Year (Small) category in 2014.

The Best Public Sector Product/Service Award went to the “Living it Up” project, a partnership between Isle of Skye healthcare tech company Sitekit and Maverick TV, a television and media production company known for its multiplatform projects.

The award for Best Digital Agency was hotly contested and the judges decided to award it jointly to Edinburgh-based Storm ID and Glasgow-based Screenmedia. The runner-up spot went to app developer Waracle. This year the award was sponsored by specialist recruitment agency Hudson.

The Award for Best Financial Services Product/Service was won for the second year running by Edinburgh-based independent investment management platform company Nucleus. The company provides online investment wrappers that rebalance the investment management market in favour of the client and their advisors.

The Star Performance of the Year Award, sponsored by doc-department, was awarded to Keith Neilson, chief executive and co-founder at Craneware, highlighting his outstanding contribution to the overall performance of the company in the past year.

In the same category, Fiona Lindsay, Healthcare Consultant at SIMUL8 Corporation, got a special recognition as Best Individual Within a Team.

Polly Purvis, chief executive of ScotlandIS, said: “The sheer volume and strength of the award applications was outstanding so I would like to congratulate all of our winners. From specialist businesses to well-known names we saw a great many examples of passion, innovation and hard work.

“Scotland is home to a growing number of ambitious and successful technology companies and as a small country I believe we punch well above our weight. ScotlandIS now has over 300 member businesses and this year’s award winners offer a snapshot of the talent making waves across our industry.”

Some 80,000 Scots now work in the digital technologies industry, which contributes more than £4 billion to the Scottish economy and adding significantly to export revenues.

ScotlandIS is funded by its members, and works to raise awareness of the industry’s expertise and its value to the Scottish economy. It plays a key role in lobbying government on the industry’s behalf over issues such as public sector procurement and skills, and provides a forum for members to meet and exchange knowledge, industry intelligence and best practice.

AND THE WINNERS WERE

DigiTech Business of the Year – FanDuel

International Technology Star – Skyscanner

Best B2B Technology Product/ Service (sponsored by Be-Positive)–Calnex

Best B2C Technology Product/ Service – FanDuel

Digital Agency (sponsored by Hudson) – Screenmedia jointly with Storm ID

Best Public Sector Product/ Service – Sitekit/ Maverick TV

Investment Deal of the Year – FanDuel

Best Financial Services Product/ Service – Nucleus

Outstanding Marketing Performance by a Tech Company – FanDuel jointly with Freeagent

Star Performance of the Year (sponsored by doc-department) – Keith Neilson, CEO of Craneware

• The judges also recognised Fiona lindsay of SIMUl8 Corporation as best individual within a team.