⚡️ SMS acquisition, Krucial ESA contract, hardware testing help from Crover

Plus some interesting data from Scottish EDGE applications

Here's your Campfire for the 25th of March, 2024.

💼 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.

🌊 Updates

🧗‍♀️ Scottish EDGE reported an increase of 30% in applications to their loan & grant competition. A total of 213 applications were made, across 5 categories. Of the applicants, 46 (21%) were re-applications. There were 89 applicants for the main EDGE, 66 for Wild Card, 46 for Young EDGE, and 12 for Social Enterprise EDGE. In terms of company breakdown, 79% of applicants were Limited Companies, 6% Social Enterprises/Charities, and 14% Sole Traders/Partnerships. Gender split: All male (42%), all female (21%), combination (33%). The top three sectors represented are Tech, Creative Industries, and Food & Drink.

🚀 Glasgow-based Krucial (using space tech to provide digital tracking solutions) has been awarded a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a new water monitoring solution. DGT Linkedin

👩‍⚖️ Edinburgh-based Valla (DIY consumer legal platform) successfully concluded its equity crowdfunding round, raising over £635k, 180%+ of its original goal.

👔 Glasgow-based Staffscanner (care worker shift-booking platform), has been awarded £960k from Scottish Enterprise to expand their 40k+ healthcare professional business into England. DGT

⚡ Glasgow-based Smart Metering Systems (SMS) (carbon energy infrastructure) has been acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) (a US private equity firm) in a £1.3 billion deal. DGT

🥼 Edinburgh-based startup Crover Ltd. (grain-swimming robots) are launching ‘Crover Testing Lab’, a service for testing newly-developed products and prototypes based at the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt. The lab will offer pre-compliance and self-certification for hardware-focused startups. More info here.

🏆 Call for nominations: WeDO Scotland’s 12th-year award ceremony will be taking place on June 21st 2024 in Edinburgh as the new award ‘SME Business of the Year’ has been introduced to add to the existing seven Awards including Eco Entrepreneur, International Entrepreneur and Employee Owned Business of the Year. DGT IN

📣 Asks & Offers

⚙️Do you dream about prototyping? The University of St Andrews has just opened its Rapid Prototyping Centre with facilities like HD 3D Printing Studio with premium materials, a 3D design office suite, electromechanical engineering equipment and machinery, and an electronics design studio (clean room environment). They offer services like high quality 3D scanning, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modelling and much much more. Campfire readers get a 10% discount (just quote CAMP10). Email them here, and find out more here.

👭 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!

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📅 Events

⚙️ 25/03, 12:00 🗺️ Online: Productivity and Retention Benefits that flexible working can bring: Join this interactive masterclass and develop your understanding of the benefits to businesses of flexible working. MORE INFO

🍀 26/03, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Greentech Meetup with Creative Edinburgh: Join the Edinburgh Greentech Futures community for a meetup in partnership with Creative Edinburgh. MORE INFO

🥐 26/03, 08:30 🗺️ Paisley: SE Breakfast Workshop – Engaging your people through Lean: Join our free breakfast workshop and learn how lean manufacturing can engage staff and create sustainable change that benefits your company. MORE INFO

📅 26/03, 10:00 🗺️ Aberdeen: Eagle Has landed - Barclays Eagle labs March Drop in Clinic: Drop in and let’s have an open discussions about your business goals and ambition and learn more about how your ecosystem manager here at Eagle Labs can support you and your business here at One Tech Hub. MORE INFO

🎤 26/03, 11:00 🗺️ Inverness: Inverness Pitch Club: A supportive and welcoming environment which gives you the opportunity to practice your pitching skills and gain confidence in talking about your business. MORE INFO

🔌 26/03, 12:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Unplugged - Bannockburn in Collaboration with STEP: This event aims to bring together entrepreneurs, techies, creatives, students, investors, and other regional stakeholders to network and share ideas. MORE INFO

📣 26/03, 12:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Presentation Club [Edinburgh]: A space to practice presenting and pitching in a safe, low-stakes environment, with the opportunity to get feedback from peers. MORE INFO

🔓 26/03, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Unlocking Product Excellence: Navigating the Future of Product Ops: The reason why Product Operations is growing as a new Product discipline, once you have it you won’t be able to live without it. MORE INFO

🤝 26/03, 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. MORE INFO

🥂 26/03, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: #geomobEDI: Geomob is an event series and podcast for geospatial enthusiasts. MORE INFO

💊 27/03, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Edinburgh Medtech Forums: Join us at the Edinburgh Medtech Forums on March 27th, 2024 for an exciting in-person gathering of medtech enthusiasts! MORE INFO

🔐 27/03, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Scot-Secure 2024 – Cyber Security Summit: Scot-Secure is Scotland’s largest annual cyber security conference. The event brings together senior InfoSec personnel, IT leaders, academics, security researchers and law enforcement, providing a unique forum for knowledge exchange, discussion and high-level networking. MORE INFO

🌡️ 27/03, 09:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Clean Heat 2024: We’ll bring together public, private and third sector organisations to share knowledge and expertise on what’s driving growth in Clean Heat. MORE INFO

🚀 27/03, 09:30 🗺️ Galashiels: Launching Your Tech Idea [Galashiels]: Session 3 of our Intro to Tech Series - brought to you by South of Scotland Enterprise, SRUC, Borders College & Techscale. MORE INFO

🎯 27/03, 10:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Data and AI in Action: Part of a series of four workshops aimed at Scottish SMEs that show how utilising data and AI can grow your business. MORE INFO

⛓ 27/03, 17:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Monthly Scottish Blockchain Meetup: Welcome to the Monthly Scottish Blockchain Meetup at the Bayes Centre in Edinburgh. The event takes place at the ground floor in G.03. MORE INFO

👨‍💻 27/03, 17:00 🗺️ Aberdeen: NoCode Demystified! A Workshop for Startup Founders by Oli Littlejohn: Are you looking to create a prototype for your tech startup concept but concerned about lacking technical skills? Join the NoCode Demystified workshop designed specifically for startup founders and leaders. We'll guide you in building your prototype without the need for extensive technical expertise. MORE INFO

🗓️ 27/03, 17:15 🗺️ Edinburgh: Barclays Eagle Labs and CodeBase monthly Quiz - Edinburgh (March): Join us for this month's pub quiz - bringing together the CodeBase and Edinburgh community for a bit of fun! MORE INFO

🎯 27/03, 18:00 🗺️ Dundee: Eden Tay Founders Community: Join the EdenTay Founders Community for entrepreneurs coming from the Tay Cities universities 🚀 MORE INFO

👥 27/03, 18:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Entrepreneurs Social Club (ESC) - March 2024: ​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

💡 28/03, 12:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Idea Factory: Idea Fest with Forth Valley College Falkirk: This event, hosted in collaboration with Forth Valley College Falkirk, is a dynamic event designed to inspire innovation and collaborative thinking within the tech community. MORE INFO

🌐 28/03, 17:00 🗺️ Stirling: The Social at CodeBase Stirling: Open to everyone, this is an in-person celebration to connect and catch up with the CodeBase and Central Scotland community. MORE INFO

🥂 28/03, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: StartupGrind March Mixer: We'll dive into interviews with founders, investors, and community champions. Then, it's your time to shine during the community open mic session – share your wins, seek advice, and connect with your fellow founders! MORE INFO

#️⃣ 30/03, 09:30 🗺️ Stirling: CoderDojo [Stirling]: Come to Stirling CoderDojo and find out how to make websites, stories with several endings, games, music, and more - all using code. MORE INFO

🥾 30/03, 10:00 Kincardine: Sustainability Netwalking: Join other sustainability leaders and pioneers for gentle walks in amazing places with interesting people. Share your experience, grow your network, revitalise yourself. Twice a month around the central belt; this week at Devilla Forest near Kincardine. MORE INFO

📍 02/04, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Tech Meetup Edinburgh - April 2024: ​The Tech Meetup is a monthly excuse for the tech community around Scotland to network, learn and share new ideas! Come along to enjoy informative presentations from your peers, listen to exciting projects in the community and make some new connections. MORE INFO

☕ Series: Unfiltered: An in-person and informal catch-up with the Scottish Codebase community! Come join us for a coffee!
⛾ 03/04, 08:30 🗺️ Stirling, MORE INFO
⛾ 03/04, 08:30 🗺️ Inverness, MORE INFO
⛾ 03/04, 08:30 🗺️ Glasgow, MORE INFO
⛾ 03/04, 08:30 🗺️ Dundee, MORE INFO
⛾ 03/04, 08:30 🗺️ Aberdeen, MORE INFO
⛾ 03/04, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh, MORE INFO

🏝️ 04/04, 17:00 🗺️ Stromness: Demystifying and Applying AI to the Islands: We will take you ‘under the hood’ of AI to show you how it works, highlight some areas where it can be used to reach the Islands net zero ambitions and show you some examples of what has been achieved in similar contexts. MORE INFO

🧳 04/04, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Tech Social April Event at Uno Mas: Our first Tech Social event of the year, we will be meeting at Uno Mas for a classic Tech Social event. We are bringing together the Scottish tech community so come along for a drink and get to know others who work in tech! MORE INFO

📍 04/04, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Tech Meetup Glasgow - April 2024: Join us at Civic House, Glasgow on the first Thursday of each month for our free event featuring two talks on tech with soft drinks and pizza. MORE INFO

💼 09/04, 09:30 🗺️ Stirling: World of Work: Organisation Culture and Values for Founders: This half-day, in-person, interactive workshop in Codebase Stirling will be co-facilitated by James and Jane from the World of Work Project. Like all of their workshops, this session will be highly interactive and will include relevant theories, practical applications and top-tips. MORE INFO

🤝 09/04, 13:00 🗺️ Stirling: Marketing Meetup with Scunnered Digital [Stirling]: Join us for a six-month event series dedicated to elevate your marketing skills, build connections and exchange ideas with fellow marketers. MORE INFO

🎯 10/04, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Startup Founders Meetup - April 2024: Each month, we'll have a combination of tactical fireside chats with experienced entrepreneurs and plenty of opportunities to network with other founders, potential cofounders, and investors. MORE INFO

🎯 Deadlines

🇬🇧 Upcoming Innovate UK deadlines:

• Unlocking nature positive private investment Applications close 10 April

• UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 2 Applications close 1 May

• UK - Germany Bilateral: Collaborative R&D Round 3 Applications close 3 June

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