Deals
29.10: Technical marketing agency Yard, which has offices in Edinburgh, London, and Cardiff, has hired Edinburgh-based Andragogy to provide AI-based training for staff and increased transparency for clients.
23.10: Shure, the American audio products firm, has bought Edinburgh-based TES Electronic Solutions, it was announced by Scottish Government investment minister Ivan McKee. TES, formerly part of Stuttgart-based global electronics design group TES DST Holdings, is known for developing innovative wireless solutions and has worked closely with Shure on a number of projects over the years.
22.10: Energy technology company Faraday Grid has announced an agreement with the UK’s leading distribution network operator, UK Power Networks, for it to trial the world’s first Faraday Grid, a ground-breaking technology that could redefine how the electricity grid works. The project aims to demonstrate how a Faraday Grid will create a smart, flexible electricity system that increases the capacity to deliver more renewable energy, such as wind and solar power at a lower cost to consumers.
09.10: Software design and development consultancy Cultivate is partnering with fellow Scottish startup Care Sourcer. The healthtech company, founded by Andrew McGinley and Andrew Parfery, recently secured an £8.5m investment round led by Legal & General and ADV to develop its care-matching technology and grow its team. Both companies are headquartered at Edinburgh’s CodeBase incubator and tech campus. The partnership focuses on Cultivate working with Care Sourcer’s engineering team, led by CTO Charles Harley, to build a platform that enables the NHS to find and provide care in the easiest possible way. Last year, Cultivate solidified its partnership with one of Europe’s fastest growing startups, Deliveroo, working closely with their internal teams on multiple projects across the business.
05.10: Glasgow advertising firm TAG Digital announced it had won £8m worth of deals, including with Ascential, Dubai World Trade Centre and UBM Americas, the largest event organiser in the United States. The company, which has offices in London and Dubai, has identified the USA as one of several major growth areas for the business. It is one of 20 businesses accepted on to the inaugural Scale Up Scotland programme run by The Hunter Foundation and Entrepreneurial Scotland, designed to scale companies up to £50m turnover. A spokesperson said that the firm is on track to achieve turnover of £6m by 2019 year-end, with more than 50% set to be international.
Appointments
22.10: Home security startup Boundary, has strengthened its team as it prepares to disrupt the market with a smart alarm system. My Funding Lab founder, Ross Findlay joins as operations manager. With a long career in the banking sector, including three years with the Commonwealth Bank in Australia, Ross will bring to the role his experience in financial consulting. To focus on the development of its software, Boundary has appointed Carolyn Barbour as senior Xamarin engineer. Coming from Connect-Auto, a retail specialist for the world’s largest vehicle brands, Carolyn will be responsible for developing Boundary’s cross-platform app that will be the control interface for its customers. Robin Knox, co-founder of Boundary, said: “We are incredibly lucky to have Ross and Carolyn come on board. Their knowledge and experience will be extremely valuable in helping us to achieve our goal of creating a leading smart home security alarm that is affordable, accessible and most importantly, makes our homes safer.” Boundary will welcome its team into its new state-of-the-art offices at Spaces, One Lochrin Square, In Edinburgh.
11.10: Edinburgh start-up Better Humans, which combines technology, physiotherapy, and best management practice to improve employee wellbeing and productivity within companies, has appointed Lauren Scott and Nikola Cheyne as massage therapists. The appointments follow the recent opening of Better Humans’ new offices and purpose-built studios in south Edinburgh by Ash Denham MSP, Minister for Community Safety. Company director Victoria Anderson said: “We are delighted to welcome Lauren and Nicola to our team. We are growing fast as demand for our services increases and they will be a valuable asset to the company.”
10.10: Scottish colocation and cloud solutions company Brightsolid has appointed a senior client engagement manager to support the business’ revitalised sales strategy. Darren Anderson held previous consultative positions with NCC Group, Dell Secureworks, and SAP, based within the UK and across Europe. With a decade’s experience in information security, penetration testing, and cyber security, Darren will apply his knowledge and expertise to support Brightsolid’s clients with their data storage and security requirements. His focus will be supporting the company’s public sector portfolio, working collaboratively with clients to identify the right cloud solution for them.
03.10: The UK marketing director at The Faraday Grid, Dr Derek Boyd, has joined the board of the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC), the leading UK research and demonstration centre supporting the development of a ‘smart’ electricity grid. The Edinburgh-based energy technology company is commercialising patented technology that will enable existing electricity networks to best deliver affordable energy, maintain network stability and increase the integration of renewables.
Scottish geospatial analytics company Global Surface Intelligence (GSI) has appointed Peter Young, an aerospace, space, and defence expert, and George Lindsay, former chief operating officer of Aglytix, as non-executive director and chief operating officer, respectively. They follow a £1m fundraising round after its chief executive, Gavin Tweedie, was appointed in June last year. Tweedie and the GSI team are now working to grow the business across the UK and internationally.
01:10: The former chief executive of Standard Life and senior independent director at Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Sandy Crombie, has joined the board of LendingCrowd, Scotland’s only fintech lender, as chairman. Stuart Lunn, founder and chief executive of LendingCrowd, said: “Attracting such an experienced and highly-rated individual as Sir Sandy is a validation of our approach to building a long-term, sustainable model capable of being scaled in a high-growth sector. We have a strong focus on financial processes, regulation and compliance and Sir Sandy will bring invaluable knowledge and expertise around these issues and in supporting our strategic aims. I look forward to a positive, collaborative relationship with Sir Sandy as we drive scale into our business.”
Products
29:10: Independent software testing company, Edge Testing Solutions, part of Eurofins Digital Testing, has expanded its testing tools suite with the addition of test automation framework TestWizard.
Deals
29.10: Technical marketing agency Yard, which has offices in Edinburgh, London, and Cardiff, has hired Edinburgh-based Andragogy to provide AI-based training for staff and increased transparency for clients.
23.10: Shure, the American audio products firm, has bought Edinburgh-based TES Electronic Solutions, it was announced by Scottish Government investment minister Ivan McKee. TES, formerly part of Stuttgart-based global electronics design group TES DST Holdings, is known for developing innovative wireless solutions and has worked closely with Shure on a number of projects over the years.
22.10: Energy technology company Faraday Grid has announced an agreement with the UK’s leading distribution network operator, UK Power Networks, for it to trial the world’s first Faraday Grid, a ground-breaking technology that could redefine how the electricity grid works. The project aims to demonstrate how a Faraday Grid will create a smart, flexible electricity system that increases the capacity to deliver more renewable energy, such as wind and solar power at a lower cost to consumers.
09.10: Software design and development consultancy Cultivate is partnering with fellow Scottish startup Care Sourcer. The healthtech company, founded by Andrew McGinley and Andrew Parfery, recently secured an £8.5m investment round led by Legal & General and ADV to develop its care-matching technology and grow its team. Both companies are headquartered at Edinburgh’s CodeBase incubator and tech campus. The partnership focuses on Cultivate working with Care Sourcer’s engineering team, led by CTO Charles Harley, to build a platform that enables the NHS to find and provide care in the easiest possible way. Last year, Cultivate solidified its partnership with one of Europe’s fastest growing startups, Deliveroo, working closely with their internal teams on multiple projects across the business.
05.10: Glasgow advertising firm TAG Digital announced it had won £8m worth of deals, including with Ascential, Dubai World Trade Centre and UBM Americas, the largest event organiser in the United States. The company, which has offices in London and Dubai, has identified the USA as one of several major growth areas for the business. It is one of 20 businesses accepted on to the inaugural Scale Up Scotland programme run by The Hunter Foundation and Entrepreneurial Scotland, designed to scale companies up to £50m turnover. A spokesperson said that the firm is on track to achieve turnover of £6m by 2019 year-end, with more than 50% set to be international.
Appointments
22.10: Home security startup Boundary, has strengthened its team as it prepares to disrupt the market with a smart alarm system. My Funding Lab founder, Ross Findlay joins as operations manager. With a long career in the banking sector, including three years with the Commonwealth Bank in Australia, Ross will bring to the role his experience in financial consulting. To focus on the development of its software, Boundary has appointed Carolyn Barbour as senior Xamarin engineer. Coming from Connect-Auto, a retail specialist for the world’s largest vehicle brands, Carolyn will be responsible for developing Boundary’s cross-platform app that will be the control interface for its customers. Robin Knox, co-founder of Boundary, said: “We are incredibly lucky to have Ross and Carolyn come on board. Their knowledge and experience will be extremely valuable in helping us to achieve our goal of creating a leading smart home security alarm that is affordable, accessible and most importantly, makes our homes safer.” Boundary will welcome its team into its new state-of-the-art offices at Spaces, One Lochrin Square, In Edinburgh.
11.10: Edinburgh start-up Better Humans, which combines technology, physiotherapy, and best management practice to improve employee wellbeing and productivity within companies, has appointed Lauren Scott and Nikola Cheyne as massage therapists. The appointments follow the recent opening of Better Humans’ new offices and purpose-built studios in south Edinburgh by Ash Denham MSP, Minister for Community Safety. Company director Victoria Anderson said: “We are delighted to welcome Lauren and Nicola to our team. We are growing fast as demand for our services increases and they will be a valuable asset to the company.”
10.10: Scottish colocation and cloud solutions company Brightsolid has appointed a senior client engagement manager to support the business’ revitalised sales strategy. Darren Anderson held previous consultative positions with NCC Group, Dell Secureworks, and SAP, based within the UK and across Europe. With a decade’s experience in information security, penetration testing, and cyber security, Darren will apply his knowledge and expertise to support Brightsolid’s clients with their data storage and security requirements. His focus will be supporting the company’s public sector portfolio, working collaboratively with clients to identify the right cloud solution for them.
03.10: The UK marketing director at The Faraday Grid, Dr Derek Boyd, has joined the board of the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC), the leading UK research and demonstration centre supporting the development of a ‘smart’ electricity grid. The Edinburgh-based energy technology company is commercialising patented technology that will enable existing electricity networks to best deliver affordable energy, maintain network stability and increase the integration of renewables.
Scottish geospatial analytics company Global Surface Intelligence (GSI) has appointed Peter Young, an aerospace, space, and defence expert, and George Lindsay, former chief operating officer of Aglytix, as non-executive director and chief operating officer, respectively. They follow a £1m fundraising round after its chief executive, Gavin Tweedie, was appointed in June last year. Tweedie and the GSI team are now working to grow the business across the UK and internationally.
01:10: The former chief executive of Standard Life and senior independent director at Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Sandy Crombie, has joined the board of LendingCrowd, Scotland’s only fintech lender, as chairman. Stuart Lunn, founder and chief executive of LendingCrowd, said: “Attracting such an experienced and highly-rated individual as Sir Sandy is a validation of our approach to building a long-term, sustainable model capable of being scaled in a high-growth sector. We have a strong focus on financial processes, regulation and compliance and Sir Sandy will bring invaluable knowledge and expertise around these issues and in supporting our strategic aims. I look forward to a positive, collaborative relationship with Sir Sandy as we drive scale into our business.”
Products
29:10: Independent software testing company, Edge Testing Solutions, part of Eurofins Digital Testing, has expanded its testing tools suite with the addition of test automation framework TestWizard.