🏢 Met Tower Project Cancelled, Nami Surgical, 2i raise, Glasgow Tech Week, New RAE Hub

Plus news from Voxblock, Snap Dragon, and more!

May 13, 2024

Here's your Campfire for the 13th of May, 2024.

💼 Want to create template legal agreements in minutes for free? Check out what Shepherd and Wedderburn making available for Campfire readers below in the ‘Asks and Offers section’. Also follow the Start to Scale LinkedIn page for useful videos and posts designed to help founders.

🌊 Updates

💰 Edinburgh-headquartered 2i testing (automated and human-assisted software testing) has raised an undisclosed round of funding (DIGIT estimates £10-15m) from London-based private equity firm Rockpool Investments. TS SFN DGT

📚 Edinburgh-based Voxblock (the screen and wifi free children’s audiobook player business) has entered into a new distribution partnership with Scotia and Chameleon, one of the UK's largest distributors of school and educational products. SBN

🏆 Edinburgh-based Snap Dragon (brand-protection platform) founder Rachel Jones among the 13 Scottish firms winners of The King’s Awards for Enterprise (formerly known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise) given for outstanding achievement in innovation, international trade, sustainable development, and promoting opportunity through social mobility. TS

💹 Royal Academy of Engineering has launched a new spinout hub in Glasgow “The Enterprise Hub Scotland”, will offer equity-free funding, training, mentorship and access to networking opportunities. FS UKTN SME

🏢 Remember that met tower project in Glasgow? Not going ahead anymore (for now) as Bruntwood SciTech's project to transform Glasgow's Met Tower into a vibrant digital hub has been called off. DGT

🥼 Nami Surgical (the spinout from the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Medical and Industrial Ultrasonics) raised £3.2 million in seed funding of investment and grant funding led by Eos Advisory alongside the Investment Fund for Scotland, which is managed by UK private equity firm Maven Capital Partners and delivered by British Business Bank, Scottish Enterprise, and SIS Ventures. The company was separately awarded a £700,000 grant from Innovate UK. SS DGT

💰 Edinburgh-based lawtech company Amiqus has recently transferred over £35k in charitable contributions from its first wave of fundraising activities, as part of its commitment to raise £100k+ over three years for the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC). DGT

🏅 Winners for ScotlandIS’ 14th annual Digital Tech Awards have been announced including Edinburgh-based Loveelectric (salary sacrifice scheme for EVs) for Startup Business of the Year. Congrats! Learn more here. DGT FS

📣 Glasgow Tech Week starts this week! Check out all the information here. Plus. don’t forget about TecTonic Night Summit on Thursday! SS

⛽ Shell is expanding it’s LiveWIRE startup programme across Scotland after a successful launch in the North East aiming to help entrepreneurs in the energy transition sector to overcome hurdles they face in growing their business. IN

🛬 For plane heads: UK-based startup airline Global Airlines landed the first A380 to travel to Glasgow Prestwick Airport. TH

📣 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.

🙋Reath are hiring! If you love business development, sales and our planet, have a look for more info here.

👨🏻‍💻 Looking for a data-scientist job? Glasgow-based PropEco is hiring a full-time data scientist and backend engineer to further develop its data platform, which helps property professionals manage the impacts of climate change. Please email chris@propeco.io if interested.

🎧 Who do you know? Voxblock (improving children’s literacy through audiobooks - 10k so far) is hiring for a COO/Director of Ops. Role includes supply chain and inventory management, scaling processes in operations, coordinating fulfilment, project management, and marketplace management. Competitive salary and share options, full-time/4 days a week, based in Edinburgh. Jobspec here.

🗄️ Want an office AND the diverse membership of a coworking space? The Melting Pot are seeking an organisation to occupy their Hot Office for a long-term rental. Available furnished or unfurnished, capacity for up to six team members at a time. Renting the Hot Office also includes 24/7 keyholder access and discounted Pay-As-You-Go access for any additional team members. For more info, contact Sam Ross.

⚙️Do you dream about prototyping? The University of St Andrews has just opened its Rapid Prototyping Centre with facilities like HD 3D Printing Studio with premium materials, a 3D design office suite, electromechanical engineering equipment and machinery, and an electronics design studio (clean room environment). They offer services like high quality 3D scanning, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modelling and much much more. Campfire readers get a 10% discount (just quote CAMP10). Email them here, and find out more here.

👭 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

🔌 13/05, 11:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Unplugged Glasgow: Open to everyone, CodeBase Unplugged is a networking event for professionals interested in or working in tech startups. MORE INFO

👥 13/05, 18:30 🗺️ Inverness: Tech Meetup Inverness: Inverness Tech Meetup is back for in-person chats, talks and snacks. MORE INFO

🗣 14/05, 11:00 🗺️ Dundee: Dundee Presentation Club: Join us in the Abertay cyberQuarter for a chance to practice your pitches and public speaking in a friendly, supportive setting. MORE INFO

💼 14/05, 13:00 🗺️ Stirling: Marketing Meetup with Scunnered Digital [Stirling]: Join us for a six-month event series dedicated to elevate your marketing skills, build connections and exchange ideas with fellow marketers. MORE INFO

🎤 14/05, 14:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab Glasgow Pitch Day: The Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab (MSIVL) is an intensive 5-month in-house start-up accelerator program promoting financial inclusion and providing entrepreneurs of technology and technology-enabled startups with access to capital (£250,000), along with the tools, resources and connections to help further develop and scale their companies. MORE INFO

☁️ 14/05, 14:00 🗺️ Online: Generative AI with Cloudsoft: Practitioner Live Lab: This Live Lab session is for technology practitioners who wish to learn about AWS AI services in a technical environment e.g. Amazon Q. MORE INFO

☁️ 14/05, 18:00 🗺️ Online: Generative AI with Cloudsoft: Executive Roundtable: For business & technology leaders interested in exploring how generative AI, amongst other AI technology offerings, can support their goals. MORE INFO

🥂 14/05, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Amplifying Voices in Technology – Collab with Startup Grind x The Social Hub x Glasgow City Innovation District: bringing together an incredible line up of individuals who are making waves in technology, from vertical farming and digital transformation to beauty robotics and award-winning data science at the Turing Institute! Prepare to be inspired as we delve into the diverse journeys of founders and leading voices in the tech sphere, discovering firsthand how they carved their path into the world of technology. Don't miss this chance to network with fellow tech enthusiasts, learn from the best, and be part of an empowering community driving technological advancement forward! MORE INFO

🏳️‍🌈 15/05, 13:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: LGBTQ+ Meetup: Planning for Pride: Our LGBTQ+ Meetup has been created as a space for LGBTQ+ people and allies working in the Scottish Tech Ecosystem to meet and discuss how we can make our spaces more inclusive to queer individuals. MORE INFO

🌱 15/05, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: #WorldProductDay - Let's Talk Product-Led Growth (PLG): oin us on this year's World Product Day for an enlightening session on Product Led Growth (PLG). In this meetup, we'll dive into how PLG leverages product usage to attract, convert, and retain customers, fundamentally shifting the traditional marketing and sales paradigms. We'll explore real-world examples from leading companies that have successfully implemented PLG strategies to achieve scalable growth. MORE INFO

☁️ 15/05, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Cloud Native and Kubernetes Edinburgh May 2024: We've got another awesome CNK Edinburgh meetup scheduled. Usual format, two great talks interspersed with decent pizza and drinks - you know the drill! MORE INFO

🥂 15/05, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Tech Week Drinks: Drinks with Cooper Parry, Foresight Group, Harper Macleod & Virgin Money. Email kirstyi@cooperparry.com to register to attend. MORE INFO

🌐 16/05, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: TecTonic: Night Summit (Glasgow Tech Week):
Special discount for Campfire readers here! This debut event is a unique blend of conference and live community gathering, promising an inclusive, energised, and vibrant showcase of innovation and connectivity within Scotland’s digital business community and startup ecosystem. There will be inspiring and entertaining on-stage activities, interactive exhibitors and a dedicated business growth mentorship area for Founders to get tailored support. MORE INFO

🔌 16/05, 17:00 🗺️ Aviemore: Unplugged - Aviemore: This event aims to bring together entrepreneurs, techies, creatives, students, investors, and other regional stakeholders to network and share ideas. It is open to individuals from all sectors, from early-stage startups to established companies, as well as educators, employees and other business professionals looking to engage with more startup activity and looking to learn more about the type of Techscaler support available across Scotland. MORE INFO

👨‍💻 16/05, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: nocode.scot meetup #12: Whether you're a nocode enthusiast or just looking to get started learning how you can build software without writing code, you're very welcome to come along! MORE INFO

🔌 20/05, 16:00 🗺️ Turriff: Unplugged Turriff: Open to everyone, CodeBase Unplugged is a networking event for professionals working in, or interested in, tech startups. MORE INFO

🎯 21/05, 11:00 🗺️ Inverness: Inverness Pitch Club: A supportive and welcoming environment which gives you the opportunity to practise your pitching skills and gain confidence in talking about your business. We’re here to help from the ground up! Whether you’re simply talking about your business or idea at networking events, or you’re going to be pitching at a competition to capture the attention of investors. Let’s get confident about communication. MORE INFO

🔥 21/05, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Startup Founders Meetup - May 2024: Each month, we'll have a combination of tactical fireside chats with experienced entrepreneurs and plenty of opportunities to network with other founders, potential cofounders, and investors. MORE INFO

🤝 22/05, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: European Coworking Day 2024 by The Melting Pot: Join us and our vibrant community as we celebrate coworking here in Edinburgh and across Europe. Get a ticket and Come and cowork with us for free all day in the heart of Edinburgh city centre (08:30-17:30), Join us for a special lunch where you will hear from some of our members about why they cowork at Scotland's Centre for Social Innovation and the benefits coworking can have, Lunch is on us! You'll try the best soup in the whole city. Vegan and gluten-free! MORE INFO

🎤 22/05, 12:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Presentation Club: Join us for a supportive and friendly afternoon of public speaking practice for people in the tech startup world. MORE INFO

💥 22/05, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Ignite Your Scaleup Journey: Techscaler Fireside Chats: Techscaler is thrilled to invite you to this Fireside Chat as part of our Focus on Investment series, designed to empower scaleup and growth-stage founders in the Scottish tech ecosystem. MORE INFO

💡 23/05, 10:00 🗺️ Dundee: Abertay Idea Generator: This event is designed to inspire innovation and collaborative thinking for those interested in the tech startup world. The event kicks off with an introduction to Techscaler and Bell Street Ventures, and the support on offer for those looking to develop their startup idea. MORE INFO

💬 23/05, 14:30 🗺️ Dundee: Founders' Funding Fireside Chat: Join us in the DC Thomson building for a chance to learn about the different funding options available for startups and to network with other founders in the Dundee & Tayside region. MORE INFO

📢 23/05, 17:00 🗺️ Aberdeen: Transform Meetup: Transform Meetup is the premier event for transformation programme professionals, including but not limited to COO’s, PMOs, Programme Directors, Programme Managers and Project Managers. Join us to network with like-minded individuals, learn about the latest trends and best practices in transformation programmes, and hear from industry experts on various topics. MORE INFO

🤝 24/05, 10:00 🗺️ Perth: Perth Coworking Day: Join us at the Famous Grouse Ideas Centre in Perth Creative Exchange for a day of free coworking. This is a great opportunity to connect with the regional tech and business community, use the excellent facilities available and get an extra dose of Friday motivation. MORE INFO

🔌 28/05, 12:00 🗺️ Stirling: Unplugged Falkirk: This event aims to bring together entrepreneurs, techies, creatives, students, investors, and other regional stakeholders to network and share ideas. It is open to individuals from all stages of the startup journey, from early-stage startups to established companies, as well as employees and other business professionals looking to engage with more startup activity, the local community and looking to learn more about the type of Techscaler support available across Central Scotland. MORE INFO

🔌 29/05, 12:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Unplugged @ Texthouse, Kelso: We are delighted to offer Unplugged in Kelso! This event is for anyone looking to learn more about what Techscaler is and what it has to offer the tech sector in the Borders. MORE INFO

📢 29/05, 08:30 🗺️ Glasgow: DIGIT Expo West 2024: DIGIT Expo West is Scotland’s largest gathering of technology personnel coming to Glasgow with over 1000 delegates. Themes of discussion will include Cyber Security, Data, AI, ML, Analytics, Cloud Services, Networks, Connectivity and much more. MORE INFO

😵‍💫 29/05, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Anti-Burnout 101: Founder Wellbeing Showcase & Mixer: A series of 'quick-fire' wellbeing talks, showcase, ecosystem networking, healthy food/drinks, and so much more. MORE INFO

🔗 29/05, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Entrepreneurs Social Club (ESC) - May 2024: Welcome to our monthly Entrepreneurs Social Club (ESC) gathering! Skip the talks, presentations and lectures - in favour of going straight to the bar, where real connections are made! MORE INFO

👥 30/05, 17:00 🗺️ Stirling: The Social at CodeBase Stirling: Open to everyone, this is an in-person celebration to connect and catch up with the CodeBase and Central Scotland community. MORE INFO

🔎 30/05, 17:15 🗺️ Edinburgh: Barclays Eagle Labs and CodeBase monthly Quiz - Edinburgh (May): Join us for this month's pub quiz - bringing together the CodeBase and Edinburgh community for a bit of fun! MORE INFO

🌐 30/05, 17:30 🗺️ Inverness: Inverness Social: Scavenger Hunt: Join us for a scavenger hunt adventure through the charming streets of Inverness, followed by a relaxed social gathering. All members of the community are invited! Whether you're involved in tech, entrepreneurship, or simply curious, this event is for you. No prior experience is required – just bring your enthusiasm! MORE INFO

🌃 30/05, 17:30 🗺️ Glasgow: FuckUp Nights Glasgow Vol.I: Fuckup Nights is a global movement and event series that shares stories of professional failure. Each month, in events across +200 cities and 65 countries, we get a couple of speakers to get up in front of a room full of strangers to share their professional fuckup. The stories of the business that crashes and burns, the partnership deal that goes sour, the product that has to be recalled, we tell them all. MORE INFO

💼 06/06, 08:15 🗺️ Glasgow: Hear the story of one of Scotland’s standout exits of 2023, The trials of growing an international business: Join us for a panel discussion on one of 2023’s standout exits for a Scottish tech company. MORE INFO

🥂 06/06, 19:00 🗺️ Aberdeen: 'Reverse' Pitch Party: Investor Showcase & Mixer: Ever heard of a reverse pitch event? It's a unique setup where startups and entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors who are actively scouting for new opportunities. But here's the twist: instead of the entrepreneurs doing all the talking, it's the investors who take the stage. They share what they're seeking, offering invaluable insights for potential partnerships and investments. MORE INFO

🌐 12/06, 09:30 🗺️ Glasgow: Horizon Europe Roadshow: Information, Networking and Collaboration for Success - Scotland: Join us for an exciting in-person networking and information event to learn, connect and discuss the Horizon Europe collaborative research and innovation opportunities that can accelerate your project. MORE INFO