StartUp Awards

StartUp Awards The UK StartUp Awards recognise the achievements of individuals with great startup ideas

The StartUp Awards National Series is a collaboration between the founders of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards - an established national programme receiving over 5,000 applications annually - and the Wales Start-Up Awards, the only regional awards currently celebrating new businesses in the UK. The StartUp Awards National Series recognises the achievements of those amazing individuals who hav

e had a great idea, spotted the opportunity and taken the risks to launch a new product or service. Already established and thriving in Wales, the StartUp Awards National Series is now taking the passion and drive to celebrate new business and extending across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Last night at Everyman Edinburgh, we brought together founders from across Scotland to celebrate the businesses creating...
24/06/2026

Last night at Everyman Edinburgh, we brought together founders from across Scotland to celebrate the businesses creating jobs, solving problems and making a real impact in their industries. 🏆

From innovative food and drink brands and cutting-edge technology companies to manufacturers, retailers and ventures driving positive change, this year's winners showcase the breadth and strength of entrepreneurship across Scotland.

A huge congratulations to all of our 2026 Scotland winners, and a special congratulations to Tailor Ed Spirits Co., crowned our Overall Scotland StartUp of the Year. 👏

Every business recognised on the night started with an idea. What we're celebrating now is the determination, resilience and belief it takes to turn that idea into something real.

We look forward to welcoming all of our Scotland winners to the UK National Final at Ideas Fest this September. See the full list of winners here: https://startupawards.uk/shortlist

Our judges had two businesses they simply couldn't let pass without recognition. Say hello to our 2026 Scotland Judges' ...
24/06/2026

Our judges had two businesses they simply couldn't let pass without recognition. Say hello to our 2026 Scotland Judges' Choice winners: Fableman's Highland Honey and Nectar. 🏆

Fableman's Highland Honey, founded by Dan Price, is a small-batch honey brand in the far north of Scotland, where each jar reflects the local flora, weather and seasons rather than chasing uniformity. Beekeeping is paired with genuine craft in branding and storytelling, building a young consumer brand rooted firmly in place.

Nectar, founded by Eirini Tamousi with Chris Arazim and Panos Tamousis, is a family-owned cocktail bar and restaurant in Edinburgh pairing signature cocktails with fresh Mediterranean-Greek plates and warm, personal service. In just five months it has gathered more than 200 five-star reviews.

Two very different businesses, two ideas the judges couldn't overlook. Both now head to the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

Adarsh Bhardwaj of Regeno is our 2026 Scotland Young Entrepreneur of the Year. 🏆Wind turbines are expensive, hard to tra...
24/06/2026

Adarsh Bhardwaj of Regeno is our 2026 Scotland Young Entrepreneur of the Year. 🏆

Wind turbines are expensive, hard to transport, slow and hazardous to install, and they leave around 800,000 tonnes of unrecyclable blade waste every year, an industry that has barely changed in decades.

What began as Adarsh's dissertation became Regeno, a patented linear motion wind system that ditches the conventional rotor entirely: no cranes, no specialist crews, no blade waste, deploying in days and wildlife safe. Wind tunnel proven and verified by the University of Strathclyde, with £422k raised and international letters of intent already in hand.

A young founder rethinking wind from the ground up. Scotland's Young Entrepreneur takes his place at the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

Entropyst takes the title of 2026 Scotland Technology StartUp of the Year, a fantastic achievement for founder Arash Bad...
24/06/2026

Entropyst takes the title of 2026 Scotland Technology StartUp of the Year, a fantastic achievement for founder Arash Badakhsh. 🏆

Almost all hydrogen today is made in ways that release carbon, while many advanced industries depend on imported carbon materials like graphite, around 90% of which is controlled by a single country.

Arash built Entropyst's HyWand reactor to solve both at once: splitting methane into clean hydrogen and valuable solid carbon such as carbon nanotubes, in a process far less energy-hungry than electrolysis. From a solo founder to a team of nine in under a year, with MOUs signed alongside global names.

Clean fuel and critical materials from one elegant idea. We'll be cheering them on at the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

A well-deserved win for FeMight, our 2026 Scotland StartUp For Good, founded by Turana Alieva. 🏆Women, and women founder...
24/06/2026

A well-deserved win for FeMight, our 2026 Scotland StartUp For Good, founded by Turana Alieva. 🏆

Women, and women founders especially, face a stubborn confidence gap and a funding system where only around 2% of venture capital reaches female-led businesses, with many never even aware of the support that does exist.

Turana built FeMight as a 360-degree ecosystem to close that gap, combining coaching, leadership workshops, mentorship and community, with deep roots in the specific barriers facing South Asian and minority women. From a Glasgow community to a global movement of over 1,000 members with hubs in Madrid and Baku.

Closing the confidence gap, one woman at a time. Turana carries Scotland to the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

HairTracker.app is our 2026 Scotland Rising Star, a brilliant win for founders Tracey Aitken and David Carboni. 🏆Hairdre...
24/06/2026

HairTracker.app is our 2026 Scotland Rising Star, a brilliant win for founders Tracey Aitken and David Carboni. 🏆

Hairdressers have logged client work on paper record cards since the 1930s: easily lost, hard to read, and out of step with modern data protection, and for the many stylists who are dyslexic thinkers, written records are pure friction.

Tracey, a hairdresser of 30 years, teamed up with technologist David to build HairTracker, a visual, secure app that stores client photos, formulas and notes and belongs to the stylist, not the salon. Already attracting subscribers across the UK, US and Australia, with sign-ups doubling after their first US trade shows.

Replacing a system that hasn't changed in nearly a century. The Scotland Rising Star heads to the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

What a win for Voxblock UK, our 2026 Scotland Retail and E-Commerce StartUp of the Year, founded by Thomas Williams and ...
24/06/2026

What a win for Voxblock UK, our 2026 Scotland Retail and E-Commerce StartUp of the Year, founded by Thomas Williams and Rebecca Lundgren. 🏆

Plenty of children love stories but find reading itself daunting, and the usual way to give them audiobooks means handing over a phone or tablet, where the screen quickly becomes the focus instead of the story.

Thomas and Rebecca built Voxblock as a screen-free, Wi-Fi-free audiobook player with physical story blocks children can hold, collect and play independently. Now used by families, schools and libraries across the UK, it treats listening as a real and valid part of learning to read.

Doing less, on purpose, so stories can do more. On to the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

Afternoon Finance is our 2026 Scotland Professional Services StartUp of the Year, a brilliant win for founder Rebecca Ch...
24/06/2026

Afternoon Finance is our 2026 Scotland Professional Services StartUp of the Year, a brilliant win for founder Rebecca Christensen. 🏆

Financial advisers spend more time on paperwork than with clients, copy-pasting data and writing up notes, while the tools meant to help them work from information that is stale the moment it is entered.

Rebecca built Afternoon as a new operating model for advice firms, connecting live investment data, meetings and documents in one place, with its Siesta AI answering any question about any client instantly. A suitability report that took three hours now takes ten minutes, and the firm's first white-label partnership is already secured.

Giving advisers their afternoons back. Next stop, the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

TileBio takes the title of 2026 Scotland Innovative StartUp of the Year, a fantastic achievement for the team led by Chr...
24/06/2026

TileBio takes the title of 2026 Scotland Innovative StartUp of the Year, a fantastic achievement for the team led by Christopher Walsh with Ke Yuan, David Chang and John Le Quesne. 🏆

Every cancer diagnosis depends on someone reading tissue under a microscope, but there are too few pathologists and ever more samples, and the AI meant to help relies on slow, costly human labelling to learn.

This University of Glasgow spinout built self-learning AI that reads pathology images directly, with no manual labelling, discovering biological patterns invisible to the human eye across millions of tissue regions. The result helps hospitals triage urgent cases and helps researchers find new biomarkers, backed by £2.3m in seed funding.

Science with the power to make diagnosis faster and fairer. We're proud to send them to the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

A well-deserved win for SeaWarm, our 2026 Scotland Green StartUp of the Year, founded by Christopher McDermott with Andr...
24/06/2026

A well-deserved win for SeaWarm, our 2026 Scotland Green StartUp of the Year, founded by Christopher McDermott with Andrew Fraser-Harris and Cameron Muir. 🏆

Heating is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions, yet the vast store of renewable heat sitting in our seas, rivers and lochs goes almost entirely untapped, especially for off-grid homes paying a fortune for oil or electric heat.

This University of Edinburgh spinout built modular systems that harvest heat from natural water sources and pair it with standard heat pumps, cutting emissions by around 90% while delivering warmth at close to mains-gas prices. Proven across demonstrator projects from coastal housing to a lead mining museum.

Unlocking an enormous resource hiding in plain sight. Flying the Scotland flag at the national final at Ideas Fest this September. ⛺

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