A device that can tackle housing-related health issues and an app to slow the progression of dementia were among the innovations on show at an emerging tech showcase in Edinburgh last week.
Olga Maksimova, founder of Lovat Compliance, a tax tool for cross-border e-commerce, speaks with attendees
The University of Edinburgh’s Venture Builder Incubator (VBI) and AI Accelerator (AIA) programmes held a joint event to present their cohorts of early-stage companies from Scotland and beyond.
More than 200 investors, founders and partners voted for the companies most likely to make an impact on the world in ten years’ time.
Preventing pollutants
Winner in the AIA health category was Nooku, a Glasgow company with a device that monitors indoor air quality and provides actionable insights to improve it.
Founder Danny Kane, whose six-year-old son has asthma, said: “In the UK, we spend 90 per cent of our time indoors where the air is up to five times more polluted than outside, often because of poor building design, which results in insufficient ventilation and leads to issues like dampness and mould. Shockingly, the UK now has the third highest asthma rate in the world.
“Our device analyses the air quality and the app uses AI to sync with building information and occupant health data to provide tailored advice actionable insights. These could range from improving ventilation, to choosing less toxic cleaning products, or even just shutting the kitchen door when you cook to prevent harmful pollutants spreading through your home.”
Nooku is already on sale via retailers such as Curry’s and B&Q, and is looking for £1.5m to roll out to the US next year.
SolarSub was co-founded by School of Engineering alumni Sebastiaan Schalkwijk
Mind boggling
Winner of the Wildcard category was Leafstory, an AI character that converses with dementia sufferers to help build their memory bank and slow disease progression.
University of Edinburgh startup SolarSub won the climate action category for its innovative cooling system that improves the efficiency and sustainability of floating solar panels.
VBI companies pitching at the showcase included winner Garandor, which is addressing the challenge of AI and creative copyright with a solution combining invisible watermarking, misuse detection and automated enforcement to provide rights holders with control, attribution and compensation.
Qinara boggled minds with their products to integrate quantum into classical AI models for businesses.
Qinara founders Swapnil Deshmukh and Rahat Santosh
Tenacity and energy
Alumni of the two programmes have raised a combined £144 million in grant funding and investment so far.
Fostering investment in the most promising early-stage companies across the north of the UK is key to building the next generation of high-growth businesses. Events like the AIA and VBI Showcase play an important role in connecting investors with emerging technologies that have the potential to scale and make a real impact.
Claire Cramm
Investment manager at venture capital fund Par Equity and panel participant at the event
The programmes are run in partnership between the Bayes Centre, the University of Edinburgh’s AI and Data Science Innovation Hub, and Edinburgh Innovations (EI), its commercialisation service.
The AIA and VBI programmes excel in supporting early-stage companies and founders to address important societal challenges. They provide tailored support with essential connections to the wider tech ecosystem, including the mentoring they need from entrepreneurs-in-residence David Farquhar and Richard Lennox.
Professor Ruth King
Director of the Bayes Centre
Growing innovative, high-quality startups and spinouts takes tenacity and energy from founders, and support from entrepreneurial campuses like Edinburgh’s, as well as the broader Scottish ecosystem, including investors willing to take a risk.
