Doctor Little

The Filament STAC - Smart Things Accelerator Centre has launched its fourth cohort, with 20 companies joining Scotland’s first smart things and IoT accelerator, and more than 50 companies now in place.  The 20 new companies joining STAC are: Zephyrus Labs, Orchyio, BennuAI, Hycean, FocaliseAI, KONPANION , Deep Sym Ltd., Audio Mitto, LU Innovations, Mix Innovations Ltd, MyFarm, Dr Little, Kyobit, Ufarms, RfIoT, Vuabl, Atypical, Lowtek Games, Curious Chip, and Thistle Rocketry. Paul Wilson, CEO, and co-founder of STAC, said: “STAC had evolved rapidly into what we describe as a full wrap-around accelerator, around four main pillars – scaling mentorship, space, investment and talent acquisition.” “What’s also notable”, continued Wilson, “is that with over 50 companies now at STAC, sector clusters are emerging, for example in sustainability, robotics, drones, health and wellbeing, and creative tech.” STAC has also revealed that there are 6 female founders in the new cohort, with Paul Wilson adding: “We are seeing more female founders join STAC, ideally, we can up the percentage over time but it's critical for now that we help them succeed. Unlocking the potential from inclusivity and diversity is highly strategic for STAC and we want to leverage the Stewart Report and collaborations to make maximum impact.” STAC Invest and STAC Jobs were both successfully launched in December and January.  STAC Invest, which enables investment firms to engage and potentially invest with STAC companies, has attracted 30 investment firms to date and will launch an investment syndicate in 2024. STAC Jobs, set up to attract and retain Scotland’s top product design and engineering talent, with Sonos, Pivot, IOpt, and Krucial joining the platform.  Also, Paul Winstanley, the CEO of CENSIS, Scotland’s innovation centre for IoT technologies, has been appointed as STAC’s Chair.  Winstanley, a co-founder at STAC, had already been a board member and supported by an advisory team that includes Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan, and Meta’s VP of Supply Chain Sean Murphy. In January, STAC announced a partnership between the UK Government and Glasgow City Council, including significant government investment, aimed at transforming Glasgow into Europe’s largest smart things and IoT innovation hub. The partnership centres a £2.5 million private and public sector investment into a 250-desk state-of-the-art facility named “thebeyond” at Skypark Glasgow. Paul Winstanley, Chair, STAC, said: “thebeyond is an incredible addition to Scotland’s tech ecosystem, and STAC has a number of further announcements this year which will ramp up Scotland’s overall tech offering and take it to the next level, focused on academic, industry, and government related partnerships and initiatives, and transforming Scotland into a bona fide global tech hub.” [DIGIT.FYI report].