Early-stage accelerator Seed Haus hunts for next unicorn
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Seed Haus has been backed by a line-up of high-profile investment partners including Sir Tom Hunter, BrewDog co-founder James Watt and technology entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl.
Its mission is to trigger Scotland’s next billion-dollar business, or “unicorn”.
• READ MORE: Who could be the next Scottish tech unicorns?
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Hide AdCo-founded by Calum Forsyth, chief executive, and Robin Knox, chairman, the accelerator aims to fill a gap by providing “the very best founders” with pre-seed investment, mentorship and office space within its Edinburgh incubator. Seed Haus has been structured as a not-for-profit organisation “committed to powering innovation and diversity in technology”.
Since launching an inaugural recruitment drive for early stage start-ups in April, the number of applications to join the six-month programme peaked at more than 160. Around half of these were from overseas founders.
• READ MORE: Edinburgh technology accelerator seeks next unicorn
Ultimately, just five applicants have been selected to join the accelerator’s first cohort: SecurityCTRL, offering cybersecurity for cloud infrastructure; Sansible Wearables, which provides body monitoring technology; Drinkly, an on-demand drinks service; Kindaba, described as a “collaborative communication platform for families”; and Taka, a Parkinson’s therapeutic symptom management system.
Forsyth, whose skill set straddles the worlds of technology and investment owing to his background as both a PhD scientist and time in London as a risk consultant with KPMG, said: “The founders themselves represent a highly-talented, diverse group with considerable experience and achievements already under their respective belts.”
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Knox, who grew his own tech start-up, Intelligentpos, into a business that was acquired by iZettle last year, said: “We are Scotland’s most selective accelerator and we have big ambitions for the companies we support.
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Hide Ad“We seek out people with the best ideas at a very early stage – we are not looking for business plans. Potential is more important to us than business experience.
“Seed Haus is providing exactly the sort of support needed by early stage start-ups to give them the greatest chance of achieving success and securing the next stage of investment.” It is already recruiting for another cohort.