Scottish EDGE (Main)

Scottish EDGE Main — Round 27

Supports early-stage Scottish businesses with blended grant and loan funding for scalable growth across sectors.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

Scottish EDGE is Scotland's largest funding competition for early-stage businesses, having supported 739 companies through previous rounds with a combination of grants, loans, mentoring, and business training. The Main category award offers up to £100,000 in blended funding, structured as 30% non-repayable grant and 70% loan at a 5% interest rate. Every eligible applicant entering the Main category is simultaneously assessed for a suite of named sub-prizes — including Future EDGE, Scale EDGE, Pathways EDGE, and Circular Economy EDGE — which can extend the total award to up to £150,000 for the highest-scoring businesses. Round 27 carries a total prize pool of £1.5 million across all categories.

Eligibility for the Main category requires the business to be headquartered in Scotland, have been trading for fewer than five years, and have annual turnover of £1 million or less. At least 50% director ownership must be held by people who are actively involved in the business day-to-day, and the business must demonstrate potential to achieve £200,000 or more in new sales within three years. Sole traders are not eligible for the Main category and must apply instead via Wild Card EDGE. The Round 27 application window ran from 25 February to 25 March 2026 at 2pm. Finalists pitched at the EDGE27 Final on 11 June 2026 at the Royal Bank of Scotland Conference Centre in Edinburgh, with awards announced at the EDGE Awards Dinner on 18 June 2026.

Applications are evaluated against six criteria: Value Proposition, Entrepreneurial Spirit and Team, Business Growth Potential, Customer Focus, Utilisation of Funding, and Impact. Submissions require a completed online application and a three-minute video presentation assessed by independent judges. Companies that have previously won a Main Scottish EDGE award cannot re-enter the Main category, though they may be eligible for other Scottish EDGE competitions. Given the loan component, applicants should model their debt service obligations on the 70% loan portion before budgeting the award.