Shaun Millican

This year’s competition is hotly contested, with the founders of Desana, who recently raised £550,000 in seed money, and Good-Loop, a Scottish tech for good company harnessing the value of ethical advertising to create social impact, among those through to the semi-final.

The annual award is a pathway to Silicon Valley for UK tech startups, with a fully funded place on FutureX’s Silicon Valley Accelerate programme 2020, amongst other prizes, on offer for the winner.

In addition to the fully funded spot on FutureX’s Silicon Valley Accelerate programme, the winner of the competition will receive over £200,000 in business support from Johnston Carmichael, AAI EmployAbility, The Herald, IBM, Dentsu Aegis and STV.

This year sees the eighth iteration of the competition and a shift to include a ‘tech for good’ criteria. For the first time, applicants were asked to demonstrate how their innovation solves a social or environmental problem. This requirement reflects the global pivot towards tech for good and reinforces Scotland’s tech industry as a leader in the purpose-driven movement.

Zoi Kantounatou, co-founder of FutureX, said: “It’s more important than ever to use tech as a means to make a difference to people and the planet. We introduced the ‘tech for good’ criteria in response to that need, and we’re thrilled to see the number of quality applications that are utilising technology to create positive change. We can’t wait to see who will take the stage at Startup Summit to pitch for the top prize.”

The semi-final will be hosted by Johnston Carmichael, which has joined Startup Summit as a gold sponsor for a third consecutive year. Semi-finalists will pitch their ventures on September 24th, and three finalists will be chosen to go head to head on stage at on the 30th of October at Startup Summit 2019.

Shaun Millican, partner & head of technology at Johnston Carmichael, said: “As ongoing gold partner of Startup Summit, it was brilliant to see this year’s fresh crop of top quality, forward thinking and socially conscious companies from across the UK submit their pitches for a place on the Silicon Valley Accelerate programme.

“Even those in their early stages already had that essential international mindset, and as the leading advisers of some of the country’s most innovative companies, we’re on-hand to support them with expert insights and advice throughout their growth journey.”