Sir Tom Hunter last night repeated his call for the new Scottish government to “sort out” the business support landscape to make it less confusing for startup entrepreneurs.
He made his appeal as 32 early stage enterprises shared £1.4 million in grants in the latest round of the Scottish Edge pitching competition to develop their ideas.
“Scottish Edge demonstrates the massive economic potential of Scotland’s entrepreneurs – congratulations to them, one and all,” he said.
“The landscape of support for them going forward, however, is both cluttered and confusing, hence I hope our new Government sorts that out so these and thousands of other entrepreneurs can accelerate their growth and economic contribution.”
Tom Arthur, Minister for Business and Fair Work, attended the event and, after praising the recipients, he reaffirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment to backing entrepreneurs.
MedAscend, an AI platform for healthcare students, received the top prize of £150,000. Other recipients included Nudge Innovations (£90,000), GreenFlip (£90,000) and Real-E-Racing (£80,000).
XYNQ took top spot amongst the pre-trading businesses, securing a grant of £15,000. Young Edge, the category recognising companies whose directors are all under 30, awarded grants to ten companies.
The main sponsors of Scottish Edge are The Hunter Foundation, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, each of whom have provided financial and operational support of the initiative since its inception.
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