DIGIT Tech News Roundup: 13th May 2022

Welcome to the latest edition of the DIGIT Tech News Roundup.

In this week’s newsletter we will cover some of our top-trending news stories spanning areas including startup funding, recruitment news and digital telecare.

DIGIT North | Get Involved!

Our next conference is the DIGIT North Summit, the largest IT & Digital event for Scotland’s North East.

The Summit will be held live and in-person at P&J Live in Aberdeen on Thursday 19th May.

To secure your free place, please visit: www.digitnorth.com??

DIGIT’s top-trending stories

Old boys mentality holding Glasgow back?

Helena Murphy, entrepreneur and founder of Raising Partners, believes Glasgow has all the required attributes to become Scotland’s own Silicon Valley. But there’s one key problem holding it back.

While Glasgow boasts an ideal mixture of talented entrepreneurs, advisers and fundraising options to help it replicate the success of California’s iconic tech hub, Scotland’s venture capital sector has a serious attitude problem.

Murphy describes the VC circuit as an “old boys’ network” which has traditionally been risk averse – and this could serious limit the ambitions of Scottish entrepreneurs by driving down valuations. So much so that she recommends budding Scottish entrepreneurs look further afield for funding options.

“We’re letting down our entrepreneurs by not making it easier for them to get access to finance,” she said. “The best thing they can do right now is go to London, and that’s incredibly disappointing.”

Disappointing indeed. But what can be done to remedy this problem? Check out the original article to read more.

Scottish firms mark impressive start to 2022

Continuing on the theme of venture capital investment, recent figures from KPMG show Scottish businesses hit the ground running in 2022, raising ￡181 million across the first three months of the year.

The funding surge marks a significant increase on the ￡64 million raised during the same period in 2021, and follows an impressive performance by Scottish firms toward the end of last year.

31 deals worth ￡97.6 million were completed during Q4 2021, bringing the total investment Scottish businesses to ￡626m across the whole of last year.

So how many deals were completed during Q1 2022? Check out the original article to read more.

IT spend falls at ICO despite pandemic

New figures show that the Information Commissioner’s Office has seen its budgets slashed despite heightened workloads during the coronavirus pandemic.

Data obtained by the Parliament Street think tank shows that the data regulator’s budget in the most recent financial year was ￡4,122,045 – 23 percent lower than in the 2019/20 financial year.

Despite budget cuts, the ICO has invested in developing its chatbot capabilities to meet demands. Want to learn how the ICO is performing?

Check out the original article to find out more.

Glasgow Uni spin-out set to scale after funding success

Glasgow-based medical device startup, Nebu~Flow, has secured ￡1.7 million in funding following an oversubscribed investment round.

Founded in 2019, Nebu~Flow specialises in drug delivery for respiratory disorders, which are the main cause of death and disability worldwide.

Led by Foresight Williams Technologies, the funding round also saw contributions from Science Creates Ventures, Ascension Life Science Fund and SIS Ventures.

According to the firm, the investment boost will enable it to commercialise and deliver the next generation of respiratory pharmaceuticals.

Want to learn about the Nebu~Flow story? Check out the original article to read more.

Inward investment supporting jobs growth

Scottish inward investment over the past year has helped secure thousands of jobs across the country.

Statistics from Scottish Development International show that more than 7,500 planned real living wage jobs had been generated by inward investment over between 2021 and 2022.

Across that period, there were around 113 investment projects supported in Scotland, 39 of which included investors locating in the country for the first time.

More than 90% of the inward investment was also directed to the nine opportunity areas identified by the Scottish Government’s Inward Investment Plan.

Want to find out which sectors benefited the most? Check out the original article to read more.

Check out our latest Long Reads

Championing the benefits of digital telecare

The transition away from analogue network systems in 2025 has prompted concerns that telecare could be affected and negatively impact some 182,000 people across Scotland.

DIGIT senior staff writer, Graham Turner, caught up with Thomas Ozers, Programme Manager for the Scottish Government’s Shared Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) Technology Solution to discuss the benefits offered by digital telecare.

Check out the full interview here.

Embracing the challenges of the startup journey

The founder’s journey can be a lonely one faced with challenges, hurdles and difficult questions.

DIGIT staff writer David Paul spoke with Thomas Gillan, CFO at BR-DGE to discuss his experience building startups, and the highs and lows of starting your own company.

Check out the full interview here.

Movers and Shakers, April 2022

Our monthly Movers and Shakers column is back for April, featuring some of the top recruitment, partnerships and awards news stories from Scotland’s technology sector.

This edition includes stories from The Data Lab, Clark Communications, AstroAgency and ePOS Hybrid.

Check out the full column here.

DIGIT Events | Join us in-person!

We understand the last two years has introduced new ways of working and coming back to in-person events may need a little more time to plan.?

So, we’ve released our full event calendar for 2022 to help you plan around work and other commitments to ensure you can join us.??