News EDGE8

Finalists in Round 8 of the Scottish EDGE awards have been awarded a total of £1.27 million in grants and loans.

During a high energy day, twenty-two of Scotland’s most promising entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to an expert panel of judges in order to win up to £100,000 each in grant funding and loans. Winners were also announced for the Higgs EDGE, which seeks to identify technology businesses with global commercialisation potential, Young EDGE, for entrepreneurs under the age of 30, and Wild Card EDGE for businesses who have yet to commence trading.

Today, we are delighted to announce the winner of our first ever Wild Card EDGE public vote, which we launched in early May. Three of our round eight Wild Card EDGE winning businesses – Blusho, Estendio and Pio Design – were selected to take part in the vote to win the chance to pitch for additional funding of up to £100,000. Having received 2,509 votes from around the world, we are thrilled to announce that BLUSHO have won our Wild Card EDGE public vote.

Two Scottish start-up businesses have won the Scottish EDGE’s competition for technology and science-focused businesses, the Higgs EDGE. RotoMotor and Soltropy were selected as winners from a group of five finalists, each of whom pitched to a panel of expert judges last Friday in an attempt to win the Scottish EDGE’s top prizes of £150,000 and £100,000. The companies must now wait until the Scottish EDGE round eight final on June 20th, 2016 to discover which of the prizes they have been awarded, and to collect the Scottish EDGE’s business support package which has been put together by a variety of partner organisations.

Less than one month after holding the final of our latest Wild Card EDGE competition, a panel of experts from the worlds of business and entrepreneurship came together on Thursday to assess the pitches of twenty-two Young EDGE competition finalists in Glasgow. It is with great pleasure that, today, we are able to announce the twelve winners of the Young EDGE competition, each of whom will receive some of the £100,000 prize fund. Designed to support Scotland’s youngest entrepreneurs, the Young EDGE competition offers winning businesses grant funding of up to £10,000, as well as a comprehensive non-financial business support package which is provided by our various partner organisations.

Update: The Wild Card EDGE Public Vote is now closed. We announced BLUSHO as the winner on June 1st, 2016.

For the first time ever, the public are being given the opportunity to judge start-up businesses in Scotland’s largest business competition. Three Scottish businesses are participating in the Scottish EDGE Wild Card public vote in the hope of winning the chance to pitch for up to £100,000 in grant and loan funding at the Scottish EDGE final on June 20th, 2016. Blusho, Estendio and Pio Design now have until May 27th, 2016 to convince the public that their product or service is deserving of additional funding and business support.

After a packed day of finalist pitches and discussion on Thursday, it is with great pleasure that we can today announce the winners of the Scottish EDGE Round 8 Wild Card competition. Designed to boost pre-trading businesses on their start-up journey in Scotland, Wild Card EDGE winners receive up to £10,000 in grant funding. Businesses will also receive a non-financial business support package, provided by the Scottish EDGE’s various partner organisations.

The Scottish EDGE are delighted to announce that the final for Round 8 of the Scottish EDGE competition will be compered by renowned Scottish comedian and presenter Fred MacAulay, with tickets available starting today. Taking place on Monday, June 20th, 2016 at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Gogarburn Conference Centre, the Round 8 Final will support Scotland’s most innovative, high-growth potential start-up businesses with up to £100,000 in cash and an all-encompassing business support package.

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney today took the opportunity to announce a further £1.5 million in grant funding to support Rounds 8 and 9 of Scottish EDGE, in The Big Interview in the March edition of Business Insider magazine.

Are you considering applying for Scottish EDGE Round 8? Then come along to our workshops to find out what makes a strong Scottish EDGE application, what the judging panel look for when assessing your application and how to deliver a 3 minute video pitch.