💊Phlo deal with Morrisons, Concinnity raise, Machines With Vision National Rail Partnership
Plus we ring in the new year with some goal planning!
Here's your Campfire for the 6th of January, 2025. Happy New Year! 🎇
💼 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.
Personal goal planning session
Every year I host a goal planning video call for friends where we make some space to individually work through a series of prompts. This year I thought I’d run one for anyone in the Campfire community.
Here’s a link to the worksheet.
How it works
On Wednesday January 8th at 1200 UK time, I’ll start a call and briefly introduce each section before setting a timer for everyone to work through. It’s all completely private, and you won’t be asked to share anything. The whole call takes about an hour, and is designed to simply give you an excuse to make some time to think about what you want to achieve this year.
Can’t make the time, or don’t fancy jumping on a call? No problem, feel free to make a copy of the worksheet and do with it what you will.
For those who’d like to join and get a reminder, you’ll find it in the worksheet.
🌊 Updates
🧬 Glasgow-based health tech spinout Concinnity Genetics raised £3 million in an oversubscribed funding round led by Eos Advisory, with additional support from Scottish Enterprise, Old College Capital, and Maven Capital Partners. The company is focused on developing novel gene therapies with control mechanisms. UKTN
🍣 Kaly Group, a seaweed business based on the Isle of Skye, raised £300,000 in funding from Tricapital Angels and Scottish Enterprise. ACS FS
👼 Edinburgh-based business angel group Archangels released its annual report and have directly invested £13.8m into Scottish startups (rounds they led totalled £27.3m). The syndicate also returned around £12.5 million to investors through exits and dividends. TS SBN
🦾 Edinburgh-based tech company Machines With Vision secured a contract with Network Rail to improve the positional accuracy of their Ultrasonic Test Unit (UTU) and raised ‘a seven-figure sum’ from Par Equity and Scottish Enterprise to support international expansion and product development. DGT
🙏 Nadeem Sarwar, founder of Glasgow-based digital pharmacy startup Phlo, has personally acquired Remedi Solutions, a digital pharmacy start-up that supplies medication to care homes. The deal saves over 80 jobs after Remedi faced cash flow problems and entered administration. The acquisition was backed by financial support from Castlebridge Finance and Tallaght Financial. IN
💊 More news from Phlo: Morrisons has teamed up with Phlo to launch the 'Morrisons Clinic', an online service that offers private prescriptions for various health and lifestyle needs. Customers complete a questionnaire, have their suitability reviewed by Phlo’s healthcare team, and receive their prescription delivered straight to their door. Conditions covered include acid reflux, acne, hair loss, menopause, and weight loss. SBN
📣 Asks & Offers
🚨Start to Scale by Shepherd and Wedderburn is offering eligible subscribers of Campfire exclusive access to their ‘Start to Scale Hub’ which helps companies create template legal agreements in minutes for free. To learn more and request access click here.
👭 Interested in connecting with possible co-founders? Fill in your listing on Cofounder Curious today! Connect with others for possible cofounder matching here.
👷Are you hiring? Send us a blurb and we’ll include it in the next newsletter!
✍️ Want to write something for Campfire? Have an opinion you'd like to share? get in touch!
📅 Events
💡 14/01, 18:30 🗺️ Glasgow: JS:January Meetup - Magically optimising your fonts: Our talks are geared towards introducing members of our community, to facilitate networking, mentorship, learning and collaboration. People with all levels of technical expertise are welcome. MORE INFO
💡 15/01, 09:30 🗺️ Glasgow: Your Voice, Your Story: Discover, create and refine your founding stories in this dynamic workshop led by Catherine Bateson. MORE INFO
👣 15/01, 11:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: NetWalking in the Park (Jan 2025): Join this Mindful Netwalking experience: Meet other Founders, enjoying the healthy way to network, inspired by a gentle walk. MORE INFO
💻 16/01, 08:30 🗺️ Perth: Perth Tech Mornings: Open to everyone, join us in the Famous Grouse Ideas Centre in Perth Creative Exchange to connect with members of the local tech community. Come for a coffee, networking and build connections. MORE INFO
🤝 16/01, 10:30 🗺️ Perth: Perth Coworking Day: Join us at the Famous Grouse Ideas Centre in Perth Creative Exchange for a day of free coworking. This is a great opportunity to connect with the regional tech and business community, use the excellent facilities available and get an extra dose of Friday motivation. MORE INFO
🔴 16/01, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Live Edinburgh: The ultimate entrepreneurial experience and global pitch competition returns to Edinburgh! MORE INFO
🍺 16/01, 18:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Edinburgh - Small99's People, Planet, Pint™: Sustainability Meetup: Pop down to your local People Planet Pint meetup to find more about what's going on locally with sustainability and how you can get involved. MORE INFO
🌐 20/01, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Startup Founders Meetup - January 2025: Tactical fireside chats with experienced entrepreneurs and speed networking with other founders, potential cofounders, and investors! MORE INFO
🎯 21/01, 10:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Workshop: What is an IP strategy and why do you need one?: Join Potter Clarkson at CodeBase Edinburgh for a 2-hour workshop on IP strategy, hosted by Craig Brownlie and Andrew Pearson. MORE INFO
🤝 22/01, 10:00 🗺️ Aberdeen: Meet the Funder 2025 Aberdeen: Major funding organisations will come together to share their expertise, helping you discover grant opportunities and funding strategies to support your projects and initiatives. MORE INFO
👨🏻💻 23/01, 17:30 🗺️ Aberdeen: Tech Trends 2025 - Aberdeen: This year we’ll be looking at both pushing the limits of the new, some things that help bridge the gap and, as always, we’ll take a peek at what is just hype and how trends from previous years have fared. MORE INFO
🤝 29/01, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Entrepreneurs Social Club (ESC) - January 2025: Welcome to our monthly Entrepreneurs Social Club (ESC) gathering! Skip the talks, presentations and lectures - in favour of going straight to the bar, where real connections are made! MORE INFO
💻 30/01, 08:30 🗺️ Kinross: Breakfast Networking at the Court House: Open to everyone, join us in Kinross' Court House to connect with members of the local tech and business community and regulars of The Court House's workspace. Come along for coffee, breakfast and networking! MORE INFO
🤝 30/01, 09:30 🗺️ Kinross: Coworking at the Court House: Join us at Kinross' Court House for a day of free coworking in their space. This is a great opportunity to connect with the local tech and business community, use the excellent facilities available and get an extra dose of motivation. MORE INFO
⛓️ 30/01, 17:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Blockchain Scotland Meetup: Welcome to the Monthly Blockchain Scotland Meetup at the Bayes Centre in Edinburgh. The event takes place at the ground floor in G.03. MORE INFO
🎯 Deadlines
🚀 Nominations for the ScotlandIS 2025 Digital Technology Awards are open: Celebrating innovation and talent in Scotland's digital economy and marking its 15th year, the awards include 10 categories. Nominate here by 9 January 2025.
🇬🇧 Upcoming Innovate UK deadlines:
Mindset extended reality (XR): Digital therapeutics for mental health Applications close 15 January
Design Foundations Round 6 Applications close 15 January
Innovate UK Smart grants: November 2024 Applications close 22 January
AI solutions to develop AI competencies in key sectors Applications close 29 January
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That’s all for this week - have a great one, and a happy New Year!
Team 🔥 Campfire