The Scottish EDGE funding competition, bankrolled by the Hunter Foundation, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and private donors, has supported hundreds of early-stage Scottish businesses with nearly £25 million in award funding to date.

Taking place for the first time in Glasgow since 2019 and hosted by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the awards on Wednesday night were attended by Simon Hannah in his first official engagement as chair of the organisation and Mark Scott, CEO of pet wellness brand Bella & Duke.

This year saw the introduction of the new Scottish Government-backed £100,000 Pathways Award to support an ambitious female entrepreneur, which was presented to Good Nude Food, a multi-award winning, probiotic fermented sauerkraut company.

Two of the other big winners of the evening were Brose Oats, which triumphed in the Food and Drink Category, a new award sponsored by Food & Drink Scotland, and Conneckt Charging, an EV charging network which won in the Net Zero category, supported by Royal Bank of Scotland, both of which took home a prize worth £100,000.

GLORIAH, a company manufacturing sustainable intimate care products for women experiencing menopause, won a prize worth £80,000 in the Zero Waste Scotland-supported Circular Economy category.

Sustainability was also a theme for Oir Soap, who won £65,000 alongside the STV Award of £75,000 of advertising airtime, and who create luxury soaps using natural ingredients.

Biotech start-up Prozymi Biolabs won the £65,000 IBioIC award to further their quest to revolutionise the gluten-free market, while Edinburgh Open Workshop, which offers affordable and flexible access to workshop machinery and tools, was awarded £75,000 in the Social Enterprise category, which is supported by The Postcode Innovation Trust.

The Young EDGE and Wildcard categories returned this round, with the former supporting companies whose managing directors are under 30 years old and the latter providing a grant to pre-trading businesses which need support to bring their products to market.

Winners of this year’s Young EDGE award ranged from Selki Store, which provides heat packs to people suffering from chronic pain, to confectionery companies Tabrifics and Chocolatia, who received the £15,000 Harper Macleod and Scottish Enterprise top Young EDGE awards respectively.

Wildcard winners included Claymore Surgical Ltd, who are developing a software platform to automate the diagnosis of childhood sleep apnoea, and Practest, who are aiming to revolutionise GPs’ communication with their patients.

Judith Cruickshank, MD commercial mid market at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “The Scottish EDGE awards continue to showcase the remarkable innovative talent present within Scotland’s entrepreneurial community. Helping businesses to scale and succeed is core to our principles which is why we’re so proud to continue our support for the Scottish EDGE awards.

“We’d like to congratulate all those businesses who were awarded funding at last night’s awards, and we can’t wait to see their progress in the coming months. As supporters of the Net Zero category, we’d like to extend special congratulations to Connekt Charging. Their work in creating an extensive and reliable charging network has the potential to be transformational.”

Jane Martin, managing director of innovation and investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “We’re pleased to continue our support for the Young EDGE category, which was once again a highly competitive field.

“Scottish EDGE has an important role to play within Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. By supporting innovative, high growth potential start-ups, together we can drive Scotland’s future economic prosperity and create purposeful, scaling companies of the future.”

Sir Tom Hunter of the Hunter Foundation said: “Bold, brave and brilliant – those are the characteristics of Scottish EDGE winners. All the evidence points to Scotland needing far more of these businesses. EDGE is a brilliant supporter of high-growth business and I’m sure could do a lot more for Scotland’s economy with the right government support.”

Evelyn McDonald, CEO of Scottish EDGE, said: “As businesses across Scotland find themselves facing challenging circumstances, there’s never been a more urgent need to drive creativity and innovation. The winners of the 22nd round of Scottish EDGE are testament to the incredible potential within Scotland’s start-up landscape.

“The addition of further awards this round, both Pathways and Food and Drink, has allowed us to reward more businesses, and alongside our partner organisations we continue our commitment to help Scottish businesses not just survive, but to thrive.”

Supported by The Hunter Foundation, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, Scottish EDGE has a key role to play in facilitating the nation’s economic growth.