🥑 Techscaler in SF, honeycomb turbines, QuickBlock, Kingdom, Logan Energy and ITZA raises

Plus, a request for testers for Ansearch's open beta.

Mar 04, 2024

Here's your Campfire for the 4th of March, 2024. We’re going to pilot our first super relaxed Campfire Founders Breakfast this Tuesday (tomorrow!), March 5th in Edinburgh. Find out more here.

💼 Thinking about EMI schemes or share incentives? On 12 March, Shepherd and Wedderburn and Deloitte are hosting a breakfast panel discussion titled "Share Incentives: What I wish I had known!" Find out more and register here.

🌊 Updates

🧱 Stirling-based QuickBlock has raised £1.3m to expand production of its recycled plastic construction blocks, including £460,000 from existing investors Equity Gap, the University of Strathclyde and Scottish Enterprise. IN

🏄‍♀️ Edinburgh-based Valla (worker-rights legal platform) is crowdfunding and has already reached 124% of its goal! 👉 Back it here

💰 Glasgow-based Kingdom Technologies (robotic lawnmowers) raised £1.4m funding from the founders of Skype and Bolt, along with Iron Wolf Capital, Specialist VC and Scottish Enterprise. DGT

🍯 Glasgow-based Katrick Technologies (energy research and development on eco-friendly concepts) has developed a honeycomb-shaped wind turbine that is cheaper to install and more efficient in urban environments. TCD

💡 Edinburgh-based e-learning business ITZA secured £2 million of funding as it looks to grow a digital learning hub in Scotland aimed at 10 to 16-year-olds. TS ACS

🚀 As part of the Scottish Government-backed Techscaler programme, Codebase has launched a pilot programme that will see 12 companies work out of an office in San Francisco for 2 weeks at a time. The 12 companies include eCERTO, Playmaker, Notation.dev, Refer My Jobs, Infix, Unbaggaged, Lovat Compliance, Krucial, National Support Network, Estendio, Your Spin, and Valla. UKTN DGT FS TS

⚡ Edinburgh-based Logan Energy (hydrogen power and storage) has successfully secured a £5 million investment from the Singaporean green energy company Lanxing New Energy and Scottish Enterprise. DGT

🛡️ A new threat intelligence app “Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland” has been launched during Scotland’s Cyber Week and will deliver ‘real-time’ cyber and fraud threat reports to Scottish organisations to bolster national online resilience levels. FS

🚀 The University of Dundee’s Venture Competition has announced the 18 ideas and companies from staff and students that will go onto receive funding. Projects include an AI-driven drug design, a automated phone-based cognitive health monitoring service, and an adaptive language platform, bio wool, and more. DGT

🔎 Have files across multiple platforms? Can’t remember whether that piece of information is in your Notion, Word doc, or email? Edinburgh-based Ansearch (multiplatform search tool) is now available in open beta. More info here.

🤝 Progress or virtue-signalling? Tell us what you think: Pathways Forward launched a pledge initiative aimed at supporting women in entrepreneurship in Scotland, with the orgs pledging to take “actionable steps aligned with the principles set out in the Pathways report”. The first Pledge members are AccelerateHER, CivTech, CodeBase, Deloitte, Eos Advisory, Scottish EDGE, and the Scottish National Investment Bank. SBN DGT FS

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📣 Asks & Offers

🍳 Fancy breakfast? We’re planning to pilot a monthly founders breakfast in Edinburgh to meet and get to know one another over… breakfast. Interested in joining? Our first one is March 5th!

⚙️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.

✍️ Want to write something for Campfire? Have an opinion you'd like to share? get in touch!

Share incentive schemes are a popular and effective way for UK emerging growth companies to recruit, incentivise and reward the key individuals that they need to grow their businesses. However, if not implemented and managed correctly, the existence of share incentive arrangements can significantly increase the complexities involved in delivering an eventual “exit”.

Join Shepherd & Wedderburn and Deloitte for a breakfast panel discussion that centres on the team's experience of dealing with share incentives in corporate transactions.

Key discussion topics:

Practical issues that arise as part of a due diligence or transaction process that could have been avoided by implementing relatively straightforward processes and checks at an early stage in the incentive lifecycle

How to ensure EMI plans deliver their intended benefit

The importance of the right approach to documentation and tax valuation for share acquisitions

A “client’s-eye-view” of managing a recent transaction involving a number of employee option holders, with David Jolliffe, CFO of Novosound

Panel:

David Jolliffe, CFO, Novosound

Arran Simpson, Reward Partner, Deloitte

Stephen Trombala, Corporate Partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn

Rodger Cairns, Employee Share Scheme Partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn

📅 Events

🥞 05/03, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Scottish Enterprise Continuous Improvement Business Breakfast Workshop: Attend this breakfast workshop to learn how lean manufacturing can help engage staff and create sustainable change to benefit your business. MORE INFO

🍳 05/03, 10:15 🗺️ Edinburgh: Campfire Founders Breakfast: A relaxed breakfast for founders to meet each other. MORE INFO

🤝 05/03, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Tech Meetup Edinburgh - March 2024: The Tech Meetup is a monthly excuse for the tech community around Scotland to network, learn and share new ideas!. MORE INFO

☕ Series: Unfiltered: An in-person and informal catch-up and coffee with colleagues and the community!
⛾ 06/03, 08:30 🗺️ Aberdeen MORE INFO
⛾ 06/03, 08:30 🗺️ Stirling MORE INFO
⛾ 06/03, 08:30 🗺️ Inverness MORE INFO
⛾ 06/03, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh MORE INFO
⛾ 06/03, 08:30 🗺️ Glasgow MORE INFO
⛾ 06/03, 08:30 🗺️ Dundee MORE INFO

🔥 06/03, 10:45 🗺️ Aberdeen: Celebrating Female Founders - A Fireside Chat on International Women's Day [Aberdeen]: Three female founders based in the North East share their entrepreneurial journey and what inspires them to move forward. MORE INFO

🧰 06/03, 11:30 🗺️ Online: Fair Work Workshop: What's the event about? This is a fully funded workshop which will help participating companies to understand the benefits of fair work. MORE INFO

👩🏽‍💻 07/03, 09:00 🗺️ Inverness: Female Founder Hackathon: Demystifying the tech side of startups [Inverness]: AccelerateHER is hosting a one-day hackathon for female and non-binary founders on Thursday 7th March, in Inverness in partnership with Techscaler. MORE INFO

🕸️ 07/03, 12:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: NetWalking Event - March 2024: Join this Mindful Netwalking experience: Meet other Founders, enjoying the healthy way to network, inspired by a gentle walk. MORE INFO

🗨️ 07/03, 12:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Make Space Meetup [Glasgow]: A meetup and networking event open to all women and non-binary people working in tech! MORE INFO

🏅 07/03, 15:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Digital Xtra Round IX (2024/25) Grant Awards: Drop-in Information Session Edinburgh: Join us on for an in-person session which will be hosted at CodeBase Edinburgh. MORE INFO

🔌 07/03, 16:00 🗺️ Huntly: Unplugged Huntly: Open to everyone, CodeBase Unplugged is a networking event for professionals working in, or interested in, tech startups. MORE INFO

🎞️ 07/03, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Geovation Scotland Showcase 2024: Showcasing the disruptive and innovative Location, Land and Property technology start ups from our most recent cohort! MORE INFO

🍕 07/03, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Tech Meetup Glasgow - March 2024: Join us at Civic House, Glasgow on the first Thursday of each month for our free event featuring two talks on tech with soft drinks and pizza. MORE INFO

💼 12/03, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Share Incentives: What I Wish I Had Known! Join Shepherd and Wedderburn and Deloitte for a breakfast panel discussion that centres on the team's experience of dealing with share incentives in corporate transactions. MORE INFO

🏁 14/03, 09:30 🗺️ Glasgow: Is Starting a Co-op Right for You? (Glasgow): Starting a new business or looking for a different approach to your existing business or community venture? A co-op could be the answer. MORE INFO

🎯 12/03, 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

🎨 12/03, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Artists Showcase by The Melting Pot: The Melting Pot and Creative Edinburgh have come together to showcase the work of up and coming artists in Edinburgh. MORE INFO

🧱 12/03, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Inaugural Databricks Scotland March Meetup [Edinburgh]: Come join us for the Scotland Databricks meet-up at CodeBase for an evening of amazing data talks! MORE INFO

🎯 13/03, 08:30 🗺️ Aberdeen: Barclays Demo Directory Launch & Access to Funding - Aberdeen: Join us for the launch of our new Demo Directory, a platform to help ambitious businesses connect with attested investors. MORE INFO

📍 13/03, 09:00 - 14/03, 16:00 🗺️ Glasgow: IBioIC's 10th Anniversary Conference: IBioIC’s 10th Anniversary Conference takes inspiration from the idea of transformation. The conference will reflect on the transformation of the IB sphere over the past ten years, celebrate key success stories so far, and look to the next ten years to identify what transformations will, and need to, happen across technology, policy, infrastructure, and research.. MORE INFO

🚀 13/03, 13:30 🗺️ Dumfries: Launching Your Tech Idea [Dumfries]: Session 3 of our Intro to Tech Series - brought to you by South of Scotland Enterprise, SRUC, Borders College & Techscaler. MORE INFO

🎢 13/03, 16:30 🗺️ Dumfries: Bridging Communities: Dumfries & Galloway: Get ready to connect, collaborate, and build relationships at "Bridging Communities" on March 13th. MORE INFO

🌱 14/03, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Edinburgh Greentech Futures Creative Hackathon - Part 3: Join the Edinburgh Greentech Futures community for the final creative problem solving session with Visit Scotland. MORE INFO

🖼️ 18/03, 16:30 🗺️ Glasgow: KTP Images Showcase 2024: Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) are funded by Innovate UK and link forward thinking organisations with the UK’s world class universities to deliver innovation projects led by inspired graduates. MORE INFO

🥂 26/03, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: #geomobEDI: Geomob is an event series and podcast for geospatial enthusiasts. MORE INFO