📡 Signals Launches, Stac announces £15m fund, Techscaler applications, Nami raises £1.9m
Here’s your Campfire for February 9, 2026
Launching Signals
Outside of managing Campfire, I’m an investor with Techstart Ventures, an inception-to-pre-seed VC that believes globally important companies can and will be built from a Scottish base. In addition to our active pre-seed investments (plus follow-on, etc), we’re launching something new, that in my biased opinion is super exciting.
With my investor-hat on, I want to share what it is, why we’re launching it and describe who we’re looking for. It’s not for everyone, and I’d love your help in sharing it with anyone you think might be a fit.
Signals: £200k inception-stage investment, weekly challenge & cohort accountability
It’s designed for people who have deep understanding and experience of a problem. They bring unique insight, obsession with the opportunity, and believe there’s potential to build a global company capable of significant scale.
This is for people who believe that a) their unique insight might provide the basis for building a globally important company and b) a £200k investment right now might increase their chances of raising a top tier pre-seed round within the next 18 months.
In addition to investment, Signals includes ongoing cohort-based accountability, weekly co-working, and regular challenge from investors and experienced operators. Full briefing can be found here.
The best founders are obsessed with gaining insight
Scotland’s startup ecosystem is super noisy, and there’s often an inverse relationship between those with the loudest volume and those who provide the most meaningful value.
We don’t speak to the whole startup landscape, because venture capital isn’t for the vast majority of startups. It’s a type of journey that only makes sense because of certain opportunity sizes, capital inefficiencies, and incredibly difficult market execution requirements. It truly embodies the phrase “it’s not for everyone” because often, you don’t need it nor should you want it.
It’s not ‘first prize’ in a hierarchy of ambition.
And if you have true unique insight, and access to a market to start getting feedback, our view is that you need to start on those feedback loops as fast as possible. Our bet is that going really early and backing you in this way will mean you can make more progress faster which increases the likelihood of a top-tier pre-seed round.
Signals is for those with uncommon insights capable of creating globally important companies with serious scale
‘Unique insights’ is an understated-sounding phrase that is actually quite rare to find. It covers not only deeply understanding a space & problem, but also having an informed view of high conviction about what the fulcrum points could be that results in positive disruption.
What is something that if true could lead to something massive? You don’t know if it’s true yet, but through your unique insight you really believe it is, and if you’re able to prove that, it unlocks far higher confidence in your proposed solution.
We’re looking for people with this unique insight, who are obsessed with it, and are already experimenting (even if it’s light-touch). They might have already taken the leap into solving this problem full time, or might still be working elsewhere and experimenting on the side.
If you know someone who fits this description, even if they don’t yet consider themselves a ‘founder’, please share techstart.vc/signals with them, or put us in touch.
The deadline for Cohort One is Feb 20th, and you can find more info about the deal on our info page and a list of upcoming briefings here or below.
🌊 Updates
🤖 Glasgow-based Smart Things Accelerator Centre (Stac) has launched its first “£15m investment fund to back Scottish start-ups and scale-ups”. The fund will focus on companies in robotics, AI, quantum computing, photonics and advanced manufacturing. TS FS DGT
🏴 Techscaler’s Catalyst is recruiting early-stage tech founders in Scotland for a 10-week cohort starting 3 March. Applications close Tuesday 17 February, and the programme includes a core “Build” phase with optional tracks for “Grow”, “Refine”, and “Raise” depending on each startup’s stage. DGT SBN
💻 Launchpad, an AI-first robotics company for assembly automation, raised further investment from PXN Ventures following its oversubscribed $11m Series A announced in October 2025. SBN
🥼Glasgow-based Nami Surgical has completed a £1.9m funding round to commercialise its miniaturised ultrasonic scalpel technology for the robotic-assisted surgery market. DGT ACS
🎓 RGU’s 2026 Impact North announced its cohort, which includes startups like Oceanfly VR (VR training for drone operators in hazardous offshore environments), Alba Kinetics (marine renewable energy generated from flow-induced vibrations), and AnchorPath (a digital platform to support care-experienced young people, foster carers and social workers) The full list of participating startups has been published by RGU and can be found here. AGCC
💵 Just launched: A new Scotland-based platform called Ailsa aims to “help businesses identify suitable grant opportunities and improve application quality using AI plus human grant expertise”. SM
📣 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.
🍯 The Melting Pot is hiring an Events Lead (Part-time/Permanent 16 hours per week). Salary: £13,333 pro rata (FTE: £25,000). Application deadline Tuesday, 24th of February. Details here.
⭐️ The UHI Business Competition from CREATE Highlands and Islands Hub invites students and residents (16+ in Argyll & Bute, Highlands and Islands, Moray or Perthshire) to pitch an idea or new venture for the chance to win up to £8,500 plus accountancy, legal, and IT support. Details 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
🛰️ Multiple 🗺️ Edinburgh, Glasgow, Online: Signals Briefing: Signals is a new cohort-based £200k inception-stage VC investment from Techstart Ventures. Deadline for Cohort One is Feb 20th. MORE INFO
💻 Monday 9th 0900: Virtual
💻 Monday 9th 1400: Virtual
💻 Tuesday 10th 0800: Virtual
👋 Wednesday 11th evening: Glasgow in-person
💻 Thursday 12th 1300: Virtual
👋 Thursday 12th evening: Edinburgh in-person
💻 Monday 16th 1200: Virtual
💻 Tuesday 17th 0830: Virtual
💻 Tuesday 17th 1200: Virtual
👋 Wednesday 18th Evening: Edinburgh in-person
💻 Thursday 19th 1200: Virtual
☕️ 10/02, 19:00, 🗺️ Online: Teacake Tech: National Conversations a non-party-political evening featuring a talk from Gordon Guthrie, followed by an audience discussion on how government works with technology and potential actions ahead of the upcoming elections. MORE INFO
👯♂️ 11/02, 9:30, 🗺️ Glasgow: Female Founder Coworking Club a supportive space for women entrepreneurs to focus, connect, and build momentum alongside like-minded founders. MORE INFO
👯♂️ 11/02, 18:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Business & Startup Networking in Edinburgh Join The Edinburgh Network for a relaxed drinks mixer that connects Edinburgh professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners to build real leads, referrals and partnerships. MORE INFO
🗂️ 11/02, 8:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Business Networking Event in Old Town An informal marketing and advertising networking meet-up in central Edinburgh for startup founders, entrepreneurs and business professionals to connect, learn and share ideas. MORE INFO
👯♂️ 12/02, 18:00, 🗺️ Glasgow: Founders Meet-up An evening bringing creative and tech founders together through a fireside conversation on building at the intersection of creativity and technology, followed by relaxed networking to spark cross-disciplinary collaboration. MORE INFO
☕️ 12/02, 10:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Startup/Investor Open Coffee Meetup a casual meet-up for founders, investors, mentors and startup newcomers to connect through meaningful conversations. MORE INFO
💻 12/02, 17:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Blockchain Scotland Meetup an evening of talks, Q&As, and relaxed networking with the Scottish web3 community, featuring speakers from Xcavate and the Ethereum Foundation plus food and drinks. MORE INFO
💻 13/02, 09:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Hub - by Bayes and ScotlandIS Weekly Co-working Fridays at The Bayes Centre bring founders building scalable tech businesses together to work alongside peers, share asks and ideas, and build momentum in a supportive startup community. MORE INFO
👯♂️ 17/02, 18:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Meet-up Tactical fireside chats with experienced entrepreneurs and speed networking with other founders, potential cofounders, and investors MORE INFO
📚 17/02, 18:15, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Storytelling: Why It’s More Important Than Ever Join us for an engaging and practical session on why storytelling has become one of the most critical leadership capabilities—and how it can be used to bring culture, values, and strategy to life in real, human ways. MORE INFO
🦸♀️ 19/02, 12:00, 🗺️ Aberdeen: Female Founder Meet Up meet-up for female and non-binary founders across Aberdeen City and Shire to connect with like-minded peers, grow their network, and share real business experiences and insights. MORE INFO
💻 20/02, 09:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Hub - by Bayes and ScotlandIS Weekly Co-working Fridays at The Bayes Centre bring founders building scalable tech businesses together to work alongside peers, share asks and ideas, and build momentum in a supportive startup community. MORE INFO
✈️ 23/02, 17:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Traveltech Meet Up Get ready for an informal evening of networking, reconnecting, and building the future of Travel Tech. MORE INFO
🎙️ 24/02, 17:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: ProductTank Community Flash Talks This month’s meetup is a night of community flash talks where product folks share short, honest stories about the messy, human side of the work and what didn’t go to plan, what they learned, and how they bounced back. MORE INFO
💻 24/02, 17:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Tech Meetup The meet up is a monthly excuse for the tech community around Scotland to network, learn and share new ideas! Enjoy informative tech presentations from your peers, hear about exciting community projects and create new connections. MORE INFO
⭐️ 24/02, 12:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Techscaler Health & Medtech Innovation Summit The Summit brings Scotland’s health and medtech community together to connect founders, investors and partners, share founder-led insights on sector challenges, and showcase Scottish innovation for real collaboration opportunities. MORE INFO
🔧 26/02, 13:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Scale smarter: discover AI and automation tools to build and grow A practical, hands-on workshop showing you how to launch or grow your business online with simple, affordable tools: no coding, big budget, or tech background required. MORE INFO
🍽️ 26/02, 18:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Dinner: Scaling & Legal Lessons from the front line An approval-only founders dinner featuring a fireside chat with Aveni COO Jaime Hunter and investor adviser Max Scharbert, for an off-the-record discussion on scaling a regulated business, regulation and legal decision-making with a small group of startup leaders. MORE INFO
💻 27/02, 09:30, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Hub - by Bayes and ScotlandIS Weekly Co-working Fridays at The Bayes Centre bring founders building scalable tech businesses together to work alongside peers, share asks and ideas, and build momentum in a supportive startup community. MORE INFO
👯♂️ 27/02, 09:00, 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founder Friday Coworking Join us for a day of networking and inspiration. This is your chance to connect with fellow founders, share ideas, and maybe even spark your next big project. MORE INFO
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That’s all for this week - have a great one!
Team 🔥 Campfire
Photo by Ocean Intelligence