News
Edinburgh University spinout Exergy3 raises £10m to turn wasted wind power into industrial heat
Exergy3 has closed a £10m seed round to commercialise technology that converts curtailed renewable electricity into high-temperature heat for industrial use, tackling grid waste and factory emissions in one go.
The Edinburgh University spinout has developed modular thermal energy storage units that take surplus power, such as wind generation the grid cannot absorb in real time, and deliver process heat at temperatures ranging from 50°C to 1,200°C.
Source: UK Investor Magazine
Scotland’s scaleups being held back by £25m glass ceiling
Scotland risks losing high-growth companies overseas unless it addresses a widening gap in later-stage capital and skills, industry leaders have warned.
At an industrial strategy roundtable in Glasgow, investors, manufacturers and public agencies agreed that while Scotland performs strongly in spinouts and early-stage funding, the transition to scale remains the system’s weakest link.
Source: The Scotsman
Earth Blox funding tackles climate risks to business
Earth Blox, an Edinburgh-based environmental risk company, has secured new funding to help businesses understand how they are impacted by loss of nature and climate change.
PXN Ventures, which grew out of Par Equity, has led a £6m funding round with support from Scottish Enterprise, Archangels and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Source: Daily Business
Biotech spin-out secures £1.58m as bio kits sell in US
The University of Edinburgh spin-out BIOCAPTIVA has raised £1.58 million in a new funding round and launched its first product in the US.
BIOCAPTIVA’s a novel magnetic bead technology is designed to solve one of liquid biopsy’s biggest bottlenecks - preparing blood samples for cancer research and diagnostics. By improving how cell-free DNA is captured from blood, the technology aims to make liquid biopsy testing more reliable, scalable, and accessible.
Source: The Business
Axol Bioscience to expand in Edinburgh after $2.8m funding deal
Axol Bioscience has secured $2.8 million (around £2.1 million) in funding, part of which will be used to expand its operations in Edinburgh.
The investment was led by US life sciences specialist BroadOak Capital Partners, with the company’s founding investor, the Roslin Foundation, also participating.
Source: Scottish Financial News
$14.9m award supports data-driven livestock development
A $14.9 million grant will strengthen work on livestock data insights by SEBI-Livestock, hosted at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.
The five-year Evidence into Action (EnAct) grant from the Gates Foundation will enhance the work of the SEBI-Livestock team, which has collaborated with the Gates Foundation to monitor the impact of the foundation’s livestock investments for almost a decade.
Multi-million dollar funding round accelerates mission to improve global veterinary diagnostics
Pioneering molecular diagnostics company MI:RNA, which uses biomarkers and advanced modelling to diagnose veterinary disease earlier, has reached a growth milestone with the completion of an oversubscribed funding round.
Source: Scottish Business News
£125,000 Microfinance Fund launched to boost Scotland’s academic innovation pipeline
The Scottish Government and Converge have today joined forces to launch a new £125,000 Microfinance Fund aimed at accelerating Scotland’s pipeline of academic start-ups.
Designed to help students, graduates and university staff take that all important first step towards starting a business, the new initiative will allocate £5,000 to each of Scotland’s 19 universities with grants distributed through university channels.
Converge 2025: Awards, Record Funding and New Partnership
Converge has announced the recipients of its 2025 awards, from life-saving food safety technology to breakthrough medical devices, with 22 prizes sharing a total prize pot in excess of £400,000.
This year’s cohort celebrates another exceptional year of university-led innovation, demonstrating Scotland’s position at the forefront of global entrepreneurship and research commercialisation.
Scots University Projects Receive Gov Funding to Go Commercial
The Scottish government is awarding projects across ten Scottish universities with the £2.95m Proof of Concept Fund to support harnessing their ground-breaking academic ideas for commercial use.
Source: DIGIT