Scottish Edge awards: 40 firms with 'entrepreneurial potential' share more than £1.5 million

A provider of cancer therapy treatment and a watersports venture are among 40 up-and-coming businesses to have benefited to the tune of more than £1.5 million after being named winners at the latest Scottish Edge Awards.

The businesses, all of whom displayed “entrepreneurial potential”, were unveiled at the awards, which also featured guest speakers and previous Edge winners Darina Garland and Kristian Tapaninaho of Ooni pizza ovens in conversation with Ewan Hunter, chief executive of the Hunter Foundation.

One of the biggest winners was Edinburgh-based Lentitek, a provider of next-generation cancer therapy treatment CAR-T. The firm, founded by Adam Inche, received a total of £100,000 in the award category, sponsored by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) in Glasgow.

In the Young Edge category, for entrepreneurs under the age of 30, winners included North Coast Watersports and Robocean.

Scottish Enterprise agreed to extend its contribution of £75,000 in the Young Edge category for both rounds 19 and 20, enabling a further seven winners aged 18-30 to be supported each round, taking the total to 14.

Royal Bank of Scotland has pledged further support to the UK’s biggest funding competition for high growth potential businesses, following the successful debut of the Net Zero category last year.

This year’s Net Zero award was won by Edinburgh-based Farm-Hand, a data driven farm-management platform. Founder, Abhimanyu Bhavgava, received funds of £70,000 to further support the company’s growth ambitions.

As the standout business from a circular perspective, POTR Pots received £50,000 as the winner of the Circular Economy award, supported by Zero Waste Scotland, for its range of flat-pack, origami, self-watering plant pots and vases, made using recycled and bio materials.

The latest recipients of the awards and funding celebrate. Scottish Edge is the biggest funding competition for high growth potential businesses. Picture: Sandy Young

Leah Pape, head of entrepreneurship and investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The high calibre of innovative applicants Edge attracts is testament to its ever-growing reputation and gave the Edge 19 judging panel a very tough job.

“Scottish Edge has an important role to play in supporting innovative, high growth potential start-ups, and Scottish Enterprise is proud to help nurture the entrepreneurial talent that will drive Scotland’s future economic prosperity through our continue support for the Young Edge category.”

Judith Cruickshank, regional managing director for Scotland and north of England, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “Enterprise is at the core of our economy, and the financial sector has a collective responsibility to foster an environment where entrepreneurs can start, scale, and thrive.

“The time to act on climate change is now and investing in high growth businesses through initiatives such as the Net Zero award not only has a positive impact on individuals, but on the future of Scotland as a nation.”

Evelyn McDonald, chief executive of Scottish Edge, added: “It’s now our eighth year running Scottish Edge and it’s been a real pleasure to have supported over 500 businesses throughout this time. Scottish Edge was set up with the intention of providing a solution to the funding gap for potential high growth businesses so we’re delighted to be able to invest a further £1.5m in this latest round to an additional 40 businesses.”