A total of 33 businesses with high growth potential have received just more than £1 million in funding after being named winners in the latest round of the Scottish EDGE Awards, with Edinburgh-based Touchlab scooping the biggest prize of £100,000. 

Set up in 2018, Touchlab develops sensing technology to create an “electronic skin” that gives machines a human sense of touch. This allows them to better operate when handling delicate objects in difficult surroundings such as outer space or hazardous environments. 

In Wildcard EDGE, the category for pre-trading companies, sole traders and partnerships, seven firms received a total of £75,000. A further eight firms whose directors with directors all under the age of 30 received £85,000 in the Young EDGE category.

READ MORE: Business Women Scotland Awards: The full list of this year's finalists

Today’s finals bring the total amount of money raised by early-stage high growth companies through 16 rounds of EDGE funding to approximately £16m. New this year, winners can also access further top-up loans to boost their award support. 

The programme is supported by the Hunter Foundation, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. Entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter of the eponymous Hunter Foundation said he was “delighted” that Scottish Enterprise has stepped up by providing an additional £500,000 loan to be shared among the winners. 

“To be clear, if Scotland is to rebuild, SMEs are fundamental to our chances of succeeding and as such I think business and Government must come together to extend and accelerate support for them through the likes of Scottish EDGE and the Logan Review,” he said. 

The full list of winners as follows: 

Bellfield Brewery

The UK’s first, exclusively gluten-free and vegan brewery - Edinburgh (£70,000, loan) 

Brave Strong Beautiful (Community Interest Company)

Hairdressing and beauty salon offering employability services - Edinburgh (£50,000, Social Enterprise EDGE) 

Craft Prospect Ltd

A space engineering practice utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies to improve satellite operations - Glasgow (£80,000) 

Fresh Car Care

Mobile car care app helping subscribers manage their car cleaning and maintenance - Edinburgh (£25,000, STV Growth EDGE) 

GoRoadie

A marketplace connecting learner drivers with qualified driving instructors – Dundee (£40,000) 

IntelliPalp Dx

Biomedical engineering company developing devices for the early detection of prostate cancer - Edinburgh (£75,000) 

Matugga Distillers Limited

An ambitious distillery producing an award-winning range of artisanal Scottish rum spirts - Livingston (£25,000) 

MI:RNA Ltd

Offering revolutionary diagnostic testing that identifies heart disease in companion animals using a blood sample - Edinburgh (£45,000) 

Ogi Bio

Start-up biotechnology company developing retrofittable devices to change the way that microbes are grown and managed - Edinburgh (£45,000) 

Origin Peptides

Manufacturer of peptides, for research, cosmetic and pharmaceutical use - Edinburgh (£35,000) 

Pillow Property Partners Ltd

International travel tech platform that matches holiday homeowners with quality guests from around the world - Dundonald, Ayrshire (£25,000) 

Piseach, trading as Bubu Skincare

Creates unique skincare masks targeted globally at gen z/millennial customers - Alness, Highlands & Islands (£35,000) 

Quosient, trading as Earth Blox

Earth observation data offering access to terabytes of space satellite - Edinburgh (£30,000) 

Seawater Solutions

Social enterprise seeking sustainable farming practices which uses seawater to grow salt-tolerant crops - Glasgow (£25,000, Circular Economy EDGE) 

Ten Bio Limited

Biotech spin-out company providing patent-pending human skin testing platform that closely mimics intact living skin - Dundee (£65,000) 

Topolytics Ltd

An analytics platform which applies data science to make the world’s waste system more visible - Edinburgh (£45,000) 

Touchlab

Uses cutting-edge electronic skin to build tele-operated robot avatars in outer space and hazardous environments - Edinburgh (£100,000, Higgs EDGE) 

Utopi Limited

IoT enabled, smart building integrator to help businesses optimise space and performance - Glasgow (£30,000)

 

Wildcard EDGE winners: 

Confidence Plus Ltd - £10,000  

KelpCrofting - £10,000 

Mygo4ward Ltd - £15,000 

ReadSmart (Bright Page Technologies) - £10,000 

Recycl8 Ltd - £10,000 

Silver Lion Innovations - £10,000 

SolarisKit Ltd - £10,000

 

Young EDGE winners: 

Bare Bones Chocolate Ltd - £10,000 

BioLiberty - £15,000 

Crover Ltd - £10,000 

Hoko Design Ltd - £10,000 

Knit It (Creative EDGE) - £10,000 

MacIsaac Ltd - £10,000 

Pomelo Collective Ltd, trading as Reath - £10,000 

Rafikï Coffee - £10,000