Frog to cross the Pond after pitching prize win

A MENTAL health and wellbeing start-up has won £65,000 of business support in a Scottish pitching competition.

Frog Systems won the prize after its Glasgowbased founder, tech entrepreneur Phil Worms, pitched to 1,000 delegates at the virtual 2020 Startup Summit Competition.

“We’re delighted to have been recognised by the judges of the Startup Summit,” Mr Worms said. It offered an “exciting platform” to build the company’s profile as it looked to market and scale the business. “And to promote Scotland’s thriving tech for good community, of which we are proud to be a part,” he added.

Frog Systems uses video to communicate messages of hope and signpost support to those in need.

Startup Summit is a two-day international entrepreneurship festival launched in Scotland in 2012 by Futurex, a socially conscious content and events business based in Edinburgh.

Frog’s prize includes a fully-funded spot on Futurex’s Silicon Valley Scale programme, which networks tech entrepreneurs with potential investors and executives at businesses such as Airbnb, Facebook and Survey Monkey.

Mr Worms created one of the UK’S first online gift delivery businesses in 1995 and was a key executive at companies including Glasgow-based cloud software firm Iomart.

Hugh Lightbody, one of the competition judges and chief officer at the national unit of business support network Business Gateway, said: “Tackling the health and economic crisis that Covid-19 has wrought is taking its toll on mental health and wellbeing. Phil highlighted the massive economic cost of absenteeism and lost productivity and the judges felt that Frog Systems’ approach to supporting this huge issue made the greatest contribution to wellbeing and the economy.”

The other two finalists were cyber security firm Cybershell and Social Good Connect, which links staff with volunteering roles.