🏔️ EDGE Winners, Nevis & Radical's Scottish Links, + Some Personal News
Starting with a bit of personal news: I’ve joined the investment team at Techstart Ventures!
Read more about that here. I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the only dedicated pre-seed VC based in Scotland.
Here's your Campfire for the 8th of December, 2025.
💼 Johnston Carmichael are a leading accountancy and business advisory firm, with offices throughout Scotland, in Newcastle and London. A partner owned firm for over 85 years, they have grown to offer core and specialist services to business of all sizes.
With specialist sector teams, they are fast becoming one of the most trusted advisers for entrepreneurs, founders and businesses that are successfully scaling.
Talk to the team today to discuss what growth stage your business is at.
🌊 Updates
🏴 The Scottish EDGE Round 26 awards in Edinburgh distributed £1.5m in loans and grants across 31 startups, with top prizes going to biotech spinout Brigid Bio, meal-prep scale-up FuelFit, whisky-cask repairer Lowland Cooperage, and inclusive clothing brand Elansu. Additional winners included Full Stop Period Wear, Sabliere, Entropyst, CAnswer BioSolutions, SEASAT, Velocity Edge, and social enterprise Fair Feast. SBN
From a bit further afield:
🖥️ US-based Nevis, co-founded by an Edinburgh University grad, raised $40 million from Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ, and Ribbit Capital to build an AI platform that automates administrative work for financial advisors. The funding will “support product development and expand adoption across wealth management firms in the US”. NW LI
💉 US-based Radical, founded by a University of St Andrews grad, raised $5M in a pre-seed round from Khosla Ventures to build an AI oncologist that helps cancer patients understand treatment options by analysing medical records and global research data. The platform is free for patients through the holidays. LI
📣 Asks & Offers
🚨 Start to Scale by Shepherd and Wedderburn is offering eligible subscribers of Campfire exclusive access to their ‘Start to Scale Hub’ which helps companies create template legal agreements in minutes for free. To learn more and request access click here.
🏴 ScotlandIS is asking Scotland’s tech sector to complete its annual industry survey, which will inform the organisation’s 2026 report on the health and growth of the country’s digital economy. Responses are open to all tech businesses in Scotland and help track trends such as AI adoption, skills needs, and economic impact. DGT
💡 Glasgow City Council has launched Glasgow No-Code: Ideas2App, a new accelerator offering 20 early-stage founders £10k each to design, build and launch an MVP using no-code tools. Eligible applicants must have a Glasgow-registered company and an idea requiring bespoke software; applications are open now via the programme’s online form.
🏴 The New Story of Scotland is seeking 12 Scottish businesses, from early-stage startups to established companies, to feature in a new filmed series showcasing the ideas and people shaping Scotland’s next chapter. Applications are now open.
👭 Interested in connecting with possible co-founders? Fill in your listing on Cofounder Curious today! Connect with others for possible cofounder matching here.
👷Are you hiring? Send us a blurb and we’ll include it in the next newsletter!
✍️ Want to write something for Campfire? Have an opinion you'd like to share? get in touch!
📅 Events
💻 08/12, 17:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Blockchain Scotland Meetup An industry-focused evening bringing together Scotland’s blockchain developers, researchers, and tech leaders. Connect, learn, and enjoy dinner and drinks with the community. MORE INFO
🎤 09/12, 10:00, 🗺️ Glasgow: Techscaler Showcase A full-day event spotlighting founders from the Catalyst accelerator with panels on AI-native startups, scaling lessons, and community insights. MORE INFO
🍺 11/12, 18:00, 🗺️ Glasgow: Small99’s People, Planet, Pint™: Sustainability Meetup Pop down to your local People Planet Pint meetup to find more about what’s going on locally with sustainability and how you can get involved MORE INFO
✨ 10/12, 18:00, 🗺️ Glasgow: TecTonic Night Summit: Year-End Exchange
A year-end creative and innovation meetup at The Dockyard Social, bringing together founders, makers, mentors, and the wider tech community for talks, networking, and a celebration of Scottish innovation. MORE INFO
🎉 10/12, 19:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: The Ultimate Holiday Party: Startups, Investors & Friends, an end-of-year holiday bash bringing together founders, investors, and the wider tech community for drinks, music, and festive chaos. MORE INFO
✨ 11/12, 17:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Tech the Halls: Edinburgh Festive Social
Celebrate everything the Edinburgh CodeBase and Greentech communities have achieved this year. Let your hair down, and join in with the festivities: you deserve it! MORE INFO
✨ 11/12, 10:00, 🗺️ Aberdeen: Enterprising North: Empowering Grassroots Businesses and Ideas with AI. Join us for a practical AI-focused event featuring a “Behind the Build” chat with founders, a pitch-training session with Bob Keiller, hands-on AI basics, insights from Scottish EDGE on funding, and networking with founders, mentors, and ecosystem partners. A day to learn, connect, and grow your ideas with AI. MORE INFO
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That’s all for this week - have a great one!
Team 🔥 Campfire