New investment round for Seed Haus
● Early-stage tech start-ups to benefit with Skyscanner’s Williams investing
Seed Haus, the Edinburghbased pre-seed investment incubator, has raised fresh funding that has seen the arrival of new investors including Skyscanner cofounder Gareth Williams.
The accelerator, whose offering includes mentorship as well as capital investment, said the proceeds will be deployed in early-stage tech start-ups with high-growth potential.
In addition to Williams, other new investors include Gordon Craig, co-founder of healthcare billing software specialist Craneware. The round also saw the return of many existing investors, such as Chris van der Kuyl of Minecraft games developer 4J Studios, Rob Dobson, Judy Wilson, Alistair Forbes, and Paul Walton all doubling down on progress to date.
Seed Haus, which operates from Leith, was founded by Calum Forsyth and Robin Knox and backers include Sir Tom Hunter and Brewdog cofounder James Watt.
Forsyth is behind Amiqus, a software company that offers an encrypted online tool to automate anti-money
0 Seed Haus was founded by Calum Forsyth (left) and Robin Knox
CEO CALUM FORSYTH
laundering and compliance checks, while Knox along with Walton is a co-founder of payments firm Intelligentpos (which was sold to izettle) and smart home security firm Boundary.
Seed Haus has backed ten tech start-ups over the last 18 months. The portfolio spans sectors including robotics, cybersecurity, logistics, and esports. The fund will be used to invest in new businesses as part of the Seed Haus accelerator.
Incoming start-ups have the option of basing themselves at the Seed Haus incubator space, which is home to top Scottish early-stage tech companies including autonomous security firm Casta Spes Technologies, beverage delivery firm Drinkly, family-focused private messaging platform Kindaba, e-sports specialist Playerbase, and gaming platform Topdog.
Seed Haus’ chief executive Forsyth said: “It’s fantastic that so many of our investors have returned and great to welcome Gareth and Gordon to the setup. Incoming founders will benefit from the fact that our institutional knowledge has never been stronger and will continue to grow as we build towards the future.”
Seed Haus has opened the applicationprocessforcohort three investment and set a deadline of 18 April.
In October it celebrated the one-year anniversary of its first tranche of investments. Forsyth said at the time: “I’m very proud of the progress we’ve all made and I am incredibly grateful to the portfolio founders for allowing us to invest in their companies and accompany them on their respective journeys. We have some very big plans for the next year.”
The involvement of Williams is his latest of many in Edinburgh’s flourishing startup scene.
Ben Spigel, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Edinburgh University Business School, has been studying how many start-ups the Skyscanner co-founder has invested in – including shopping app Mallzee and online booking management firm Appointedd.
The academic counted more than a dozen in the Scottish capital and surrounding area, and noted more broadly that Edinburgh is well-placed to thrive as a tech hub due to the ripple effect of the travel giant.
“It’s fantastic that so many of our investors have returned and great to welcome Gareth and Gordon [Craig of Craneware] to the set-up”