🌽 IGS's Gigafarm, EIE24, IncinioAI Raises, CodeClan's coming back
Plus who's your unsung hero of 2023??
Here's your Campfire for the 11th of December, 2023.
💼 This issue of Campfire is sponsored by Shepherd and Wedderburn's initiative to supercharge start-ups and scale-ups. Be sure to follow the Start to Scale LinkedIn page for useful videos and posts designed to help founders.
🦸♀️ Who’s your unsung hero of the ecosystem?
To end the year on some positivity, we’re again recognising unsung heroes and champions of the Scottish startup ecosystem. Has another founder, investor, lawyer, accountant, advisor, ecosystem member, etc helped you above and beyond this year?
👉 Submit your entry here (they can be anonymous!) no later than the 15th!!
🌊 Updates & Opinions
🧑🌾 Edinburgh-based Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) has signed an agreement at COP28 with ReFarm to start construction on a 900,000 sq. ft 'Gigafarm', the waste-to-value farm capable of recycling more than 50,000 tonnes of food waste and growing two billion plants each year. DGT FS IN
🚀 FinTech Scotland has announced the launch of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL), a new initiative to help revolutionise and shape the future regulatory landscapes in the UK and around the globe. DGT IN TS FS
🧑💻 St Andrews-based Eos Advisory, has closed a new fund and grown its team. DGT TS
💰 Scotland-based Inicio AI (SaaS for debt-financing) raised an undisclosed amount from Mint Ventures and the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab. DGT TS
💻 Share your views: ScotlandIS, the membership and cluster management organisation for Scotland’s digital technologies industry, has launched its 16th annual tech industry survey and is seeking input from respondents across the nation. DGT SS FS
🚃 Glasgow-based PropEco has partnered with Stafford Railway Building Society to boost its climate and energy performance data.
🎫 EIE is back: EIE24 will bring together over 130 investors from around the world for two days of networking, discovery, and deal-making. FS DGT
🧬 Edinburgh-based medtech Bioliberty (soft robotic glove to help with the rehabilitation of stroke patients) has received £435,000 in new funding from Innovate UK’s flagship grant, the Biomedical Catalyst DGT
🏆 Glasgow-based health technology business Microplate DX has been voted best startup at the Barclays Entrepreneur Awards. USG
💼 Share your views: CodeBase has launched consultation on plans for CodeClan 2.0 as its looking to rebuild a sustainable mechanism that serves the strategic tech talent pipeline outlined in the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER), authored by Mark Logan in 2020. IN FS
📣 Asks & Offers
🤔 Know someone? Life sciences startup is looking for a Board Chair! Ideally, the right candidate would be: local to Scotland, confident, have startup & company growth experience, board experience (not necessarily chair), interested in life sciences (experience not required), keen to work for equity and cash blend, ready to start Dec/Jan if possible. Get in touch if that's you or you know someone.
🤝 Can you help? Eagle Labs is carrying out some research as they work on something to allow startups/scaleups to demo themselves to corporates who need their innovation, and is collecting some data to help them in their development. Any founder who has a spare 2 minutes to help fill out this survey would be really appreciated!
✍️ Want to sponsor Campfire? We're planning some new initiatives in 2024, so say hello and let's chat!
🤨 Campfire is looking into something: know any foreign founders based in Scotland who are or were on the UK Innovator visa and who used a for-profit organisation to help secure or sponsor it (e.g. not a University)? If so, we'd love to speak with them.
👭 Interested in connecting with possible co-founders? Fill in your listing on Cofounder Curious today! Connect with others for possible cofounder matching here.
✍️ Want to write something for Campfire? Have an opinion you'd like to share? get in touch!
"ShepWedd’s understanding of the unique requirements of a tech startup have been immensely helpful to AdInMo on our growth journey. At each step ShepWedd have provided robust guidance in navigating complex legal and regulatory landscapes, especially around investment and employee compensation schemes.
Their lawyers, particularly Stephen Trombala and Gavin Charlton, have consistently offered astute advice and practical solutions tailored to our unique challenges.
The AdInMo executive team have been pleased overall with the level of professionalism, attention to detail, and personalised care that ShepWedd offers. Our interactions with ShepWedd have always had the feel of collaboration rather than transactional events, and we highly recommend to any ambitious startup aiming for legal expertise." - Kristan Rivers, CEO & Co-Founder, AdinMo
Shepherd & Wedderburn's innovative and personable approach helps companies from first incorporation onwards (including through to an exit – if that’s the goal). Their global reach means they can scale and grow with you, like they have with clients like Epic Games, FanDuel, Parsleybox, and TVSquared.
👉 To learn more, send an email starttoscale@shepwedd.co.uk & set up a chat.
📅 Events
🎄 Series: Tech the Halls: Join us for a festive social to celebrate everything the our community has achieved this year. Let your hair down, hang out with others in the community, and join in with the festivities: you deserve it. There will be food, drink, games and music available and we look forward to celebrating with you!
🥂 12/12, 18:00 🗺️ Dundee: Dundee and Tayside Festive Social MORE INFO
🥂 13/12, 13:30 🗺️ Dumfries: South of Scotland Festive Social MORE INFO
🥂 13/12, 16:30 🗺️ Inverness: Highlands & Islands Festive Social MORE INFO
🥂 13/12, 16:30 🗺️ Aberdeen: North East Scotland Festive Social MORE INFO
🥂 14/12, 17:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Edinburgh & Lothians Festive Social MORE INFO
🥂 15/12, 17:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Glasgow & West Festive Social MORE INFO
💻 13/12, 09:30 🗺️ Dumfries: Coworking Day [South of Scotland]: We’re excited to invite our tech and business community, and anyone wishing to connect with our local community to our coworking days, taking place at Flourish in Dumfries. We're hosting these coworking days every Wednesday from 25th October - 13th December 2023, where you can join us for startup chat, networking, and to get to know you local tech-curious peers. MORE INFO
👸 19/12, 17:30 🗺️ Stirling: Digital Skills 4 Girls [Stirling]: From coding and gaming to digital design and video, DS4G is a friendly and supportive environment to learn new skills and meet new friends. MORE INFO
🤝 19/12, 18:00 🗺️ Dundee: Dundee Data Meetup: Welcome to the monthly recurring Dundee Data Meetup, a vibrant community-driven event that brings together curious learners, data enthusiasts and professionals to explore the captivating world of data and its applications. We're dedicated to fostering an inclusive community where individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together to share knowledge, spark ideas, ignite curiosity, foster collaboration, and promote responsible data practices. Each month, we'll be featuring different themes, so check out our updates on our socials and Eventbrite page. MORE INFO
🎊 20/12, 18:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Holiday Meetup 2023 [Tech Meetup, ESC, Startup Founders Meetup]: Join the hosts of the Tech Meetup, Entrepreneur Social Club, The Startup Founders Meetup, and Startup Grind Scotland for the final final meetup of 2023! No speakers, just conversations! Dress Code: The theme is "holiday party", however you decide to interpret that :). MORE INFO
🩺 10/01/24, 12:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Edinburgh Medtech Forum: Join us for our Edinburgh Medtech Forum where we bring together healthcare, medtech and healthtech professionals from around Edinburgh. MORE INFO
🎨 11/01/24, 00:00 🗺️ Online: An Introduction to Innovation by Scottish Enterprise: This webinar provides an introduction to the tools & techniques you need to start or move to the next stage of your innovation journey. MORE INFO
🎯 Deadlines
🇬🇧 Upcoming Innovate UK deadlines:
Launchpad: bio-based manufacturing in Scotland – R1 MFA and CR&D Applications close December 13
Transport Decarbonisation Demonstrators Applications close 8 January 2024
Smart Grants September 2023 Applications close 17 January
Are we missing your event or deadline? 👉 Submit it here!
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That’s all for this week - have a great one!
Team 🔥 Campfire