The University’s support made all the difference to our business. They helped us go from students to entrepreneurs.

Abesh Thakur, Varun NairUniversity of Edinburgh AlumniFounders of Two Big Ears Ltdwww.twobigears.com

INSPIRE LAUNCH GROW

“Innovation is a fundamental driver of long-term

competitiveness and sustainable economic growth. Our vision for making

Scotland a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation is set out in the Scotland CAN DO framework. A key aim of the recently published Scotland’s Economic Strategy is to improve the links between our universities and private sector companies and the Scottish Government will continue to foster this

culture of innovation and knowledge exchange across the country.

JOHN SWINNEYDeputy First Minister o

f S

cotla

ndPROFESSOR SIR TIM

OTHY O’S

HEA

Principal & Vice Chancello

r

The University of Edinburgh

2

ENTE

RPRI

SE

THE EDINBURGH ENTERPRISE ECOSYSTEM

Spin-out SupportUniversity of Edinburgh

“Entrepreneurship can be everything you want in a career

– exhilarating, world changing and rewarding in many ways but starting a company is hard. For those in need of some help, direction or a sounding board for their next billion dollar idea I encourage you to make the most

of the amazing folk ERI and Launch.ed and the work

they do”

TOM GRIFFITHS

CPO & Co-founder

FanDuel

Converge ChallengeCreating Entrepreneurs

font = AMARANTH

What would you do if you had 72 hours to start a company?

We bring together and combine individual strengths of students and staff across the university. We challenge them to be creative and encourage them to fail and start up again, to build a successful team and a fantastic business.

3DS and the University

We brought together 54 StudentsThey worked over 72 hoursand pitched 6 new ideas

YEAR ONE

We brought together 70 Students and StaffThey worked over 72 hoursand pitched 6 new ideas to form 3 companies

YEAR TWO

2013

2014 3

We reach out to and engage with hundreds of students and staff to help inspire them with the possibilities of commercialisation and entrepreneurship. Each year we run events to help educate and enrich the university with enterprise.

INSP

IRE

4

20132014

20142015

24events

32events

46events

371 attendees

974 attendees

1896 attendees

Building a Community

20122013

= 10 entrepreneurs

Edinburgh has the best environment for startups.The support here beats them all!

David HunterUniversity of Edinburgh alumniFounder of Shotscopewww.shotscope.com

6

LAUN

CH44

*as of 1 June 2015

20122013 208

ideas

20132014 245

ideas

20142015 417

ideas

35

The university is exploding with innovation and ideas. We help students and staff explore those ideas and turn them into opportunities.

Nurturing the Ideas

20122013

20132014

START-UPS

35

University of Edinburgh student & staff company formations

20142015

= 10 entrepreneurs

Shifting from academia to business was tough but rewarding. It allows you to drive, and ultimately benefit from, commercial applications of your research.

Dr. Ben PanterUniversity of EdinburghCEO, Blackford Analysiswww.blackfordanalysis.com

Dr. Ben PanterUniversity of EdinburghCEO, Blackford Analysiswww.blackfordanalysis.com

8

Gavin Dutch is the founder and CEO of Kotikan, the fastest growing app development company in Scotland. Kotikan was founded in 2007 and they are based in Edinburgh at Codebase, the UK’s largest technology incubator. The company spotted the growing market for mobile apps early on, and they can now count some big names including fellow Edinburgh start-up Skyscanner and the world’s largest art festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, among their clients.

After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, Gavin spent several years working as a software developer in New Zealand. After his time in New Zealand, Gavin returned to Scotland to start his own company, Kotikan. From that initial start-up, Kotikan has grown rapidly and now employs more than 50 people.

2015 Entrepreneurial Acheiver Award

GROW

Gavin DutchFounder & CEO, Kotikan

from their first Scottish Young Persons Grant of £1,000 to a recent $70 million in Series D financing led by Shamrock Capital Advisors, LLC, with NBC Sports Ventures and KKR participating,

from a desk at tech startup incubator Techcube on the Edinburgh Meadows to international offices in New York City and in the prestigious Quartermile development alongside fellow Edinburgh startup, Skyscanner

from two uni friends to a company 106 employees strong

From

uni

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up to

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1020

3040

50

University friends Tom Griffiths and Rob Jones began their entrepreneurial journey in 2007 straight out of university. Griffiths had just finished his MSc in Artificial Intelligence in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh when he and Jones started a web-based networking and organisational tool for individuals and businesses called Groopit. Griffiths put a planned-PhD on hold to focus on building a business, a business that would eventually evolve into FanDuel, the leader in one-day fantasy sports with revenues in the double digit millions.

In the early stages of startup, fresh from university and using money cobbled together from family and friends, the young entrepreneurs got “enormous” help from LAUNCH.ed in “all sorts of matters” from making them answer hard questions to learning financial forecasting to getting introductions to a variety of potential funding opportunities.

Today, FanDuel is the leader in one-day fantasy sports, tapping into the overall market of 40.5 million people playing fantasy sports. While FanDuel didn’t invent the one-day fantasy sport league, they were the first dedicated startup to put significant resources into an innovative one-day format.* It was while doing market research, a skill long since polished from his first days working with LAUNCH.ed, that Griffiths had a light-bulb moment when he asked a potential user if he would be willing to pay a small amount to play for a chance to win some money.*

Instead of keeping to the traditional multi-month fantasy sports season, FanDuel leagues can last just one day and prizes are paid out as soon as the relevant games have closed. The short timeframe and the added excitement playing in a fantasy league can add to watching live games have contributed to the 15% of FanDuel’s users who are completely new to the fantasy sports market, not just the one-day fantasy sports market.

The rapid growth seen in 2014 – where FanDuel grabbed 65% of the both the daily and weekly fantasy sports market – has earned FanDuel and the new world of one-day fantasy sports leagues recognition and deals with NFL franchises including the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills. FanDuel aims to change the way people consume sports and explode the market beyond what anyone thought possible.*

*Chen, Albet. (2015) ‘Every Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday,’ Sports Illustrated, 2 February, pp. 33-39.

All figures correct as of May 2015GR

OW

The FanDuel Startup Journey

is the venture investment arm of the University of Edinburgh providing growth and development finance into early and mid stage spin-out and startup companies as part of syndicated capital rounds.

OLD COLLEGE CAPITAL

The University of Edinburgh has approved a £6m recapitalisation of its in house venture capital fund Old College Capital (OCC), which provides growth and development finance into companies associated with the University.

The Fund was established in 2011 with support from the University and its Endowment and works in partnership with investors who are interested in high growth potential businesses. Currently the fund invests an average of £250,000 in each company, and adopts a ‘co-investment model’, working alongside venture capitalists, angel groups and corporate investors. OCC has an independent investment committee and operates on a fully commercial basis. Since 2011 Old College capital has invested £2m into ten student start-ups and academic spin-outs across a broad range of sectors. This investment leveraged a further £18m from private sector commercial co-investors. This recapitalisation takes the total fund to £8m.

The University’s Director of Corporate Services, Hugh Edmiston, says, “The reinvestment demonstrates a continued commitment by the University and its Endowment to back growth businesses from the University’s ecosystem by providing essential capital at an exciting and critical point in their development.”

Hamish Mair, Chair of OCC’s investment committee says, “External investors have welcomed the fund and take confidence that the University is backing its own companies and sharing the risk. OCC’s investment partners can work with a trusted partner with the ability to follow-on its investments and benefit from the University’s in-depth knowledge of our investee businesses.”

www.oldcollegecapital.com

POSTGRADUATEBUSINESS SUPPORTACROSS SCOTLANDAre you a postgraduate?

Do you fancy being your own boss or have a brilliant business idea?

Enterprise Campus can help you get your business

postgraduate entrepreneurs across Scotland www.EnterpriseCampus.org.uk

BUSINESS BOOTCAMP

IDEA

GENER

ATIO

N

Advisor meetings

WE HELP YOU?HOW CAN

East@EnterpriseCampus.org.uk#GOSTART

@ENTcEAST

POSTGRADUATEBUSINESS SUPPORTACROSS SCOTLANDAre you a postgraduate?

Do you fancy being your own boss or have a brilliant business idea?

Enterprise Campus can help you get your business

postgraduate entrepreneurs across Scotland www.EnterpriseCampus.org.uk

BUSINESS BOOTCAMP

IDEA

GENER

ATIO

N

Advisor meetings

WE HELP YOU?HOW CAN

East@EnterpriseCampus.org.uk#GOSTART

@ENTcEAST

1010

Oonagh Mannix & Helen WilliamsUniversity of Edinburgh AlumnaeFounders of PolorumILG 2015 Finalists

INSPIRE

LAUNCH

GROW

If you have an idea and you would like

support, please contact us

Edinburgh Research and Innovation Ltd+44 (0)131 472 4700

www.research-innovation.ed.ac.uk