Double EDGE win for start-ups

ECCI residents Industrial Nature and Hemp Eyewear have collectively won more than £100,000 of funding in the UK’s largest funding competition, Scottish EDGE.

Part of the Climate-KIC Accelerator programme at ECCI, Industrial Nature picked up a whopping £98,000 in the highly competitive Scottish EDGE category. The company manufacturers a range of innovative, low cost, insulating construction products made from left-over crop materials such as hemp.

The win comes hot on the heels of fellow Climate-KIC Accelerator participants Hemp Eyewear who were big winners in the Wild Card EDGE competition last month, scooping a cool £10,000. The company designs and manufactures the world’s first plant fibre eyewear.

In total, Scottish EDGE 11 awarded £1.1 million to Scotland’s most promising startup businesses as well as offering mentoring, training and access to professional support.

Scott Simpson, Co-founder & Managing Director of Industrial Nature said:

"We're incredibly happy to have been awarded £98,000 from Scottish EDGE - it's not only the money but the validation from this win which means so much for us.

"This now means we are much closer to getting our three innovative eco-construction products to market: insulating blocks, fibre 'batts' and our next generation biotech product in R&D in partnership with the University of Edinburgh. All made from crops.

"Thank you to the amazing Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation for helping us secure this funding. Their great pitch coaching and business mentorship really made all the difference and continues to provide the bespoke support we need going forward."